South Korea’s former defense minister was prevented from attempting suicide while in detention because martial law was declared last week, officials said Wednesday, while President Yoon Suk-yul’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.
The main opposition Liberal Democratic Party is pushing for a new motion to impeach Yoon over his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades.
The first attempt to remove Yoon failed last Saturday after ruling party representatives boycotted the vote. The party said it intends to submit the new proposal on Thursday for a vote on Saturday.
Yoon’s ill-considered seizure of power has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy, and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea’s state media first reported cross-border unrest, but the country did not show any suspicious activity.
Shin Young-hae, commissioner-general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers that former Defense Minister Kim Young-hyun had tried to commit suicide the night before at a detention center in Seoul. He said that correctional officers arrested him and that his condition was stable.
Prosecutors arrested Kim early Wednesday on charges of playing a major role in the rebellion and committing abuse of power. He became the first person to be officially arrested due to the martial law decree.
Kim, a close confidant of Yoon, has been accused of recommending that martial law be imposed on Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on it. A sufficient number of lawmakers were eventually able to enter the parliament hall and unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to rescind it before dawn on December 4.
Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing great concern” to the public. He said that the full responsibility for imposing martial law rests on his shoulders, and called for leniency with the soldiers deployed to implement it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to charge Kim.
Yoon’s office prohibits inspection of the presidential compound
Later on Wednesday, police arrested National Police Agency Commissioner-General Cho Ji-ho and Kim Bong-sik, chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police. They were accused of deploying police forces in Parliament to prevent representatives from voting.
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The main focus of the investigation is to find out whether Yun, Kim and others involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion. Conviction of rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office on Wednesday to search for any evidence related to the imposition of martial law. But investigators failed to enter the office until Wednesday evening, about six hours after their arrival, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told parliament.
Some observers previously said that the presidential security service would likely not allow a search of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searching sites containing state secrets without the approval of those responsible for those areas.
Yoon apologized on Saturday for the martial law decree, saying he would not evade legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later pledged to arrange for the president’s stable exit from office, saying the party would coordinate with Cabinet members on state affairs and Yoon would be sidelined from his duties.
The comments have been criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional, and have raised widespread questions about who is in charge of South Korea and its military at a time of rising tensions with North Korea. On Tuesday, the Justice Ministry banned Yoon from leaving the country while he faces investigations.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho confirmed on Wednesday that Yoon remains in charge of the military. But Yoon has not participated in any major official activities since martial law was lifted, other than accepting resignation offers from officials involved in the martial law case and appointing head of the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
An article published by North Korea’s official news agency on Wednesday reported on the political chaos and protests in South Korea sparked by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mostly attempted to explain events in South Korea, although it described Yoon as a “traitor” and his military “gangsters.”
Many experts say North Korea is sensitive to the domestic spread of news about major anti-government protests in foreign countries because its people do not have formal access to international news and can be affected by such events. The US State Department said on Monday that the US-South Korea alliance remains “strong” and that Washington is committed to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.
In declaring martial law, the conservative Yoon stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating “North Korea’s shameless henchmen and anti-state forces,” referring to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has faced near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which has made proposals to impeach some of its top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree is unconstitutional. They say the law only allows the president to declare martial law in times of war or similar emergencies, but South Korea has never been in such a bind. They say that deploying troops to close the National Assembly and suspend its political activities amounts to rebellion because the constitution does not allow the president to use the army to suspend Parliament in any situation.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he is removed from office, new presidential elections will be needed.
