South Korean prosecutors on Sunday arrested a former defense minister who allegedly recommended it short but impressive from last week the imposition of martial law on President Yoon Suk Yeol, making him the first figure arrested in the case, news reports said.
The development came a day after Yoon avoid an opposition-led bid to impeach him in parliament, with most ruling party lawmakers boycotting a full vote to avoid the two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party said it will prepare a new impeachment motion against Yoon.
However, according to Agence France-Presse, Yoon’s People’s Power Party said in a statement on Sunday that it had “effectively obtained (Yoon’s) promise to step down.”
“Until the president resigns, the president will effectively be excluded from his duties,” he said in the statement, according to AFP.
People’s Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon and South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will meet later Sunday to discuss plans for Yoon’s “orderly retirement,” the party said.
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun voluntarily turned himself in to a Seoul prosecutor’s office on Sunday, where his cell phone was confiscated and he was arrested, Yonhap news agency reported.
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Other South Korean media published similar reports, saying Kim was taken to a detention center in Seoul. Reports said police were searching Kim’s former office and residence on Sunday.
Repeated calls to the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office and the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office were not answered. An official at the detention center in eastern Seoul hung up the phone when The Associated Press called.
Yoon accepted Kim’s resignation offer on Thursday after opposition parties filed a separate impeachment motion against him.
Kim is a central figure in Yoon’s implementation of martial law, which resulted in special forces troops surrounding the National Assembly building and army helicopters hovering over it. The military withdrew after parliament voted unanimously to overturn Yoon’s decree, forcing his cabinet to lift it before dawn on Wednesday.
In Kim’s impeachment motion document, the Democratic Party and other opposition parties accused him of proposing martial law to Yoon. Ruling party leader Han Dong-hun made a similar comment about Kim’s role. Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho told parliament that Kim Yong Hyun ordered the deployment of troops to the National Assembly.
The Democratic Party called Yoon’s imposition of martial law “unconstitutional, illegal rebellion or coup d’état.” He has filed police complaints against at least nine people, including Yoon and Kim, over the alleged rebellion.
In a statement released by the defense ministry on Wednesday, Kim said that “all troops carrying out tasks related to martial law were acting according to my instructions, and all responsibility rests with me.”
Prosecutor General Shim Woo Jung told reporters Thursday that the prosecution plans to investigate rebellion charges against Yoon following complaints filed by the opposition.
While the president is mostly immune from prosecution while in office, this does not extend to accusations of rebellion or treason. It was not immediately clear how prosecutors plan to proceed with an investigation into Yoon.
The Ministry of Defense said it has suspended three senior military commanders for their alleged involvement in the imposition of martial law. They were among those facing accusations of rebellion raised by the opposition.
On Saturday, Yoon issued an apology for the martial law decree, saying he would not shirk legal or political responsibility for the statement and vowing not to make another attempt to impose it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a path through the country’s political turmoil, “including issues related to my mandate.”
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has struggled to push his agenda through an opposition-controlled parliament and has faced low approval ratings amid scandals involving him and his wife. In his martial law announcement on Tuesday night, Yoon called parliament a “den of criminals” that bogs down state affairs and vowed to eliminate “shameless supporters of North Korea and anti-state forces.”
The declaration of martial law was the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea. The turmoil has paralyzed South Korean politics and caused alarm among key diplomatic partners such as the US and Japan.
The removal of Yoon’s impeachment motion is expected to intensify protests calling for his ouster and deepen political chaos in South Korea, with a poll suggesting a majority of South Koreans support impeachment of the president
Yoon’s declaration of martial law drew criticism from his own conservative ruling People’s Power Party, but he is determined to oppose Yoon’s impeachment because he fears losing the presidency to the liberals.