South Korea: deposed president accused of authorizing army to open fire

A South Korean court on Saturday accused ousted President Yoon Suk-yeol of allowing the army to open fire to enter parliament during his failed attempt to impose martial law, causing serious violence. political crisis.

Nearly a month after this coup, Asia’s fourth largest economy finds itself in political chaos which was further aggravated with the dismissal on Friday by the deputies of the interim head of state in office for less than two weeks.

As new pro- and anti-Yoon protests were held on Saturday, the court released the indictment report of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, considered the person who pushed the president to impose martial law .

Break the door and take them out, even if it means shooting

Martial law was declared on December 3 to everyone’s surprise, while the president sent the army to parliament.

Haven’t you entered yet? What are you doing? Break the door and take them out, even if it means shootinghe said on Dec. 3 in a phone call with Seoul’s military commander, Lee Jin-woo, who was near parliament, according to the court.

After martial law was declared, heavily armed soldiers stormed parliament, scaling barriers, smashing windows and, some, landing by helicopter.

According to the 10-page report, the president also ordered military counterintelligence chief Gen. Kwak Jong-keun toquickly get inside of parliament.

Get the people inside the assembly out, destroy the doors with an ax if necessaryhe declared, according to the prosecution, which adds that the president would have discussed martial law as early as March with senior military officials.

As lawmakers rushed to reject martial law at dawn on December 4, President Yoon told Mr. Lee that he would declare it a second and third time.

The president’s lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, told theAFP that this information was biased and did not correspond neither to objective facts nor to common sense.

During a speech in December, Mr. Yoon said he would not consider a second attempt at proclaiming martial law and apologized for anxiety and discomfort.

Investigation still ongoing

Dismissed from his post, he is the subject of an investigation for rebelliona crime punishable by death and officially remains president while awaiting a ruling from the Constitutional Court, which has six months to confirm or overturn the decision of the deputies.

In opposition, Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Sun-woo said the report had uncovered the terrible and undeniable truth about Yoon Suk-yeol, the leader of the betrayaldemanding his arrest immediate.

The Corruption Investigation Bureau, which centralizes investigations, has already summoned the deposed president twice for questioning. But Mr. Yoon did not appear for any of these summonses.

Investigators sent him a third summons on Thursday for a hearing on Sunday morning.

Political instability

Politically, Korea has its third leader in less than a month. The interim president in place since mid-December, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, was in turn dismissed on Friday, with MPs accusing him of trying to obstruct the investigation into his predecessor’s coup. .

The new interim head of state, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, has promised to put an end to the government crisis.

But the situation is unprecedented for the country, plunged into uncertainty which caused its currency to plunge to its lowest level in 16 years on Friday.

Tens of thousands of people from both camps rallied in Seoul on Saturday, with anti-Yoon protesters carrying signs calling for the ousted president’s arrest.

As for his supporters, Danny Ko, 31, defends martial law against an opposition he describes asinsurrectional : Now the Democratic Party will impeach [le ministre des Finances et nouveau président par intérim] Choi Sang-mok, like Han, and the country will descend into madnesshe said to theAFP.