South Korea: Acting President grilled at parliamentary probe
South Korea: Acting President grilled at parliamentary probe into Yoon's insurrection allegation
South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok was grilled on Thursday at a special parliamentary committee investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid
Ex-commander confirms Yoon ordered removal of lawmakers, not agents, from
National Assembly
SEOUL — South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok was grilled on
Thursday at a special parliamentary committee investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol's
martial law bid, with Opposition lawmakers questioning him about a memo Yoon
allegedly gave Choi ordering a budget for an emergency legislative body.
The main Opposition Democratic Party (DP) mainly
questioned Choi, who was the finance minister on December 3, when Yoon imposed
an emergency martial law, about the memo that Yoon allegedly handed to him on
the night of the martial law declaration.
"During a parliamentary enquiry session, you said
the President handed out documents at the time of the martial law declaration
and that you did not take a look at them but shouldn't you have done so,"
Rep. Choo Mi-ae questioned Choi.
Choi replied someone had handed him a "folded
note" but that he was too overwhelmed at the moment to read it.
The memo reportedly outlined measures to cut off
operational expenses for the National Assembly and to form a budget for the
emergency legislature under martial law.
During the hearing, the DP also criticised Choi's
decision to hold off the appointment of Opposition-recommended Justice Ma
Eun-hyuk as the ninth justice to the Constitutional Court.
The issue of appointments to the nine-member Bench, which
is currently one member short, has been controversial as its composition could
affect the impeachment trial of Yoon.
Thursday's session was also attended by Prime Minister
Han Duck-soo and other officials, Yonhap news agency reported.
The National Assembly had voted to impeach Yoon over his
shocking, albeit short-lived, imposition of martial law on December 3. Yoon had
been indicted on charges of leading an insurrection and had been under arrest.
Yoon is also alleged to have sent military troops to the
National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting down the martial law
declaration and to have planned to arrest key political figures.
South Korea:
Ex-commander confirms Yoon ordered removal of lawmakers, not agents, from
National Assembly
A former military commander of South Korea involved in
President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid confirmed on Thursday that
the people Yoon ordered to be removed from the National Assembly were
lawmakers, not agents.
Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the then chief of the Army
Special Warfare Command, made the remark as a witness during the sixth formal
hearing of Yoon's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court.
Yoon was also in attendance, reports Yonhap news agency.
"I obviously thought and understood the part about
dragging people out from inside as referring to lawmakers because there were no
operation agents inside the main (parliamentary) building at the time,"
Kwak said, referring to a phone call he received from Yoon on the night martial
law was imposed on December 3.
Kwak was confirming testimony he has previously given in
parliament, as former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun has disputed the claim,
saying Yoon had in fact ordered the removal of agents, not lawmakers.
In Korean, the words for agent and lawmaker are similar
in pronunciation.
Earlier during the hearing, Col. Kim Hyun-tae, head of
the Army Special Warfare Command's 707th Special Mission Group, said he had
been ordered to seal off and secure the National Assembly building while the
decree was in force.
"The mission I received was to seal off and secure
(the National Assembly)," he said, adding that he relayed the instruction
to his troops.
He also recalled that in a phone call, he had with Kwak
after his troops had entered the parliamentary building on the night of
December 3, Kwak asked if they could go in further, "since there can't be
more than 150 people."
Kim said he did not know at the time what the number 150
meant but later learned it was the minimum number of lawmakers needed to vote
down Yoon's martial law decree.
When asked if he was instructed to "drag out"
lawmakers, he said, "There was no such order and by my recollection even
if there had been it wouldn't have worked."
Senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Park
Chun-sup is also set to testify.
Park is expected to be asked about the opposition party's
push to cut the government budget, which Yoon's side has cited as one of the
reasons martial law was declared.
