South Korea's former defense minister was formally arrested on Wednesday (local time) on suspicion of colluding with President Yoon Suk-yeol and others to impose martial law last week, and authorities are investigating whether their actions amounted to a rebellion.
Martial law, the first in more than 40 years, lasted only about 6 hours, but sparked a storm and massive street protests across the country. Yoon Suk-yeol and his accomplices face a criminal investigation and an impeachment attempt. The Ministry of Justice has barred Yoon Suk-yeol and eight others from leaving the country because authorities see them as prime suspects in the martial law case. This is the first time a sitting South Korean president has received a travel ban.
The Seoul Central District Court said it approved an arrest warrant for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on charges of rebellion and abuse of power.
Kim has been in custody since Sunday. Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to prosecute him. Conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
Kim became the first person to be arrested in connection with the case. He is accused of proposing martial law to Yoon Suk-yeol and sending troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on martial law. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to get into the parliament chamber and unanimously rejected Yoon's decree, forcing the cabinet to lift it before dawn on December 4.
Kim Jong-un said in a statement on Tuesday that he was "deeply sorry for causing significant anxiety and inconvenience." He said that all the responsibility for imposing martial law lay solely with him and pleaded for leniency for the soldiers deployed to enforce martial law, saying they were simply following his orders.
Prosecutors reportedly accused Kim of playing a key role in the insurgency and working with Yoon Suk-yeol and other military police to stage riots to undermine the constitution and abuse his power. The Seoul prosecutor's office could not immediately confirm the reports.
The opposition-controlled parliament passed a bill on Tuesday appointing an independent special prosecutor to investigate Yoon Suk-yeol and other senior military officers over the introduction of martial law. The main opposition Democratic Party has advocated a special prosecutor investigation, arguing that prosecutors cannot be trusted to conduct a thorough investigation into former Attorney General Yoon Suk-yeol.
At a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Kwak Jong-keun, the commander of the Army's Special Operations Command, who was sent to Congress, testified that he had received direct instructions from Kim Yong-hyun to prevent lawmakers from entering the main chamber of the National Assembly. Kwak said the purpose of Kim's directives was to prevent the 300-member parliament from getting the 150 votes needed to overturn Yoon Suk-yeol's martial law.
Mr. Yoon later called him directly and asked the troops to "quickly destroy the door and drag the lawmakers inside," Mr. Guo said. Kwak said he discussed Yoon's order with commanders at the scene, and they concluded that there was nothing they could do, ruling out the possibility of threatening lawmakers by firing empty bullets or cutting off electricity.
At the same hearing, Kim Dae-woo, a senior officer with the military's counterintelligence agency, said his commander, Yeo In-hyung, asked him if there was room to detain politicians and other figures in military bunkers in Seoul after martial law was imposed. Yeo is considered to be a close associate of Kim Yong Hyun. Last week, Hong Jang-won, the deputy director of South Korea's spy agency, said Yoon had ordered him to help Yang's command detain some of his political opponents, but he ignored the president's orders.
Kwok and Yang face insurgency charges filed by the opposition along with Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Jong-un, and the Defense Ministry suspended them from their posts last week.
Opposition parties and many experts say martial law is unconstitutional. They say the law only allows the president to declare martial law in "wartime, war-like situations, or other similar national emergencies," which is not the case in South Korea. They argue that the deployment of the military to block the National Assembly to suspend its political activities is tantamount to a rebellion, since the South Korean constitution does not allow the president to use the military to suspend the parliament under any circumstances.
In declaring martial law, the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating "shameless North Korean followers and anti-state forces," referring to his liberal opponents who control parliament.
Yoon avoided impeachment on Saturday after a majority of ruling lawmakers boycotted an in-person vote in the National Assembly.
The Democratic Party said it would prepare for a new vote on Yoon's impeachment on Saturday. The party also submitted motions to impeach Yoon Suk-yeol Police Chief and Justice Minister on Tuesday. It pushed for the impeachment of Kim Yong-hyun and the security minister, but they resigned before the parliamentary vote.
If Yoon Suk-yeol is impeached, his presidential powers will be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his power or remove him from office. If it votes for recall, a new presidential election will need to be held.