South Korean president investigated for insurrection after declaring martial law

The Independent and Europa Press

La Jornada Newspaper
Friday, December 6, 2024, p. 24

Seoul. South Korean police launched an investigation against President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of insurrection following its abrupt and short-lived declaration of martial law earlier this week.

The decree, which lasted six hours and plunged the country into political chaos, could have serious consequences for the president, since in South Korean law insurrection is a crime that evades presidential immunity and carries the death penalty.

A parliamentary vote to remove the president is scheduled to take place on Saturday night.

In the investigation, which responds to two requests submitted by the opposition Korea Reconstruction party and fifty activists, the now former Minister of Defense, Kim Yong Hyun, the head of the Army, Park An Su, and the minister are also accused. of the Interior, Lee Sang Min, for treason by promoting or approving martial law.

The former defense minister was also banned from traveling as part of the investigations, Yonhap news agency reported.

The Prosecutor’s Office and the Anti-Corruption Investigation Office also received requests to initiate relevant legal proceedings against Yoon Suk Yeol for acts of treason, and are studying the possibility of conducting their own investigations or passing on any evidence to the police.

President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law in an extraordinary late-night televised speech Tuesday, citing unidentified security threats from anti-state forces and opposition politicians.

General Park Ahn Soo, head of the army in charge of supervising martial law, told parliament yesterday that he learned of the declaration when the president announced it live on television, the Financial Times newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, the deputy spokesman for the US State Department, Vedant Patel, pointed out that the ties between Washington and Seoul transcend any particular president and reaffirmed the alliance between both countries.