Kim Min-seok, a lawmaker with the Democratic Party of Korea. (still from YouTube)

“Yoon started laying the logical foundations for his martial law order when he began using the term ‘anti-state forces,’ and built up from there.”  

This was the assessment of Kim Min-seok, a member of the Democratic Party’s Supreme Council, on Wednesday after the president’s short-lived martial rule the night before.

Appearing on the MBC radio show “Kim Jong-bae’s Focus,” Kim said Yoon’s emergency martial law declaration demonstrated “an abnormal obsession with power,” suggesting that this obsession “has its origins in [first lady] Kim Keon-hee’s abnormal obsession with power.” 

Months ago, during a meeting of the Democratic Party’s Supreme Council on Aug. 21, Kim said, “I have solid reason to believe that the crux of the administration’s recent path, from switching out Yoon’s defense minister to a person that blocks the opposition’s voice in a manner that harks back to Cha Ji-cheol and Yoon’s sudden use of the phrase ‘anti-state forces,’ was a strategic operation to prepare for martial law by stoking fear of North Korea under considerations of a regional war.” Kim has been the leading voice in the Democratic Party that has suspected Yoon of preparing for a martial state. 

During his interview with the Hankyoreh on Wednesday, Kim said, “I pointed the problem out based on my comprehensive judgment, rooted in the idea that they [the Yoon administration] are so bad at governance that they have no way of preventing their replacement other than martial law, terrorism, and mobilizing the legal system against their opponents.” 

Regarding his argument that Yoon was preparing to declare martial law in advance, Kim said, “I thought it was strange that he would move around his Choongam crew who he would surely mobilize for that purpose [martial law.]”

Choongam refers to Choongam High School, the alma mater of Yoon and his ministers of defense and the interior and other high-ranking figures in his administration. 

“His most crucial motive was not wanting Kim Keon-hee to go to prison,” he added. 

Kim also said that this was connected to the issue of a Marine’s death in 2023, which the president is suspected of covering up by shutting down an investigation. 

“We think that not only the president but the national defense minister are all implicated,” Kim said. 

“Those who will inevitably face time behind bars when the truth comes out have made a scene to save their own hides,” he assessed. 

Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, who allegedly recommended declaring martial law to Yoon, was a year ahead of Yoon at Choongam High School. Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyeong, commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command (DCC), a military intelligence agency, also went to Choongam High. The DCC is the successor to the Defense Security Command (DSC), which drafted the proposal to implement martial law during the Park Geun-hye administration. In the event that martial law is imposed, the DCC heads key investigations and operates a joint investigation headquarters responsible for coordinating and controlling state intelligence and investigative agencies. 

Other Choongam High alumni in positions of power include Park Jong-seon, the leader of the Defense Security Agency commonly known as the “777 Command” that gathers intelligence on North Korea, and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, who, alongside the defense minister, is vested with the authority to recommend the imposition of martial law to the president.

When asked if there are any additional preventative measures regarding the martial law declaration, Kim responded, “The president’s declaration [or martial law] was valid for all of two or three hours. But this is likely only the first wave. The embers are still glowing,” he said. 

“When I first brought this up in broad daylight during the 21st century, most people probably thought I was a weirdo, but now we need to bring the entire thing into the light and think about additional countermeasures. It’s such a dumbfounding situation,” he added.

By Goh Gyoung-ju, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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