After martial law was declared, heavily armed soldiers stormed Parliament, scaling barriers, smashing windows and some landing by helicopter.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol authorized the army to open fire to enter Parliament in early December during his attempt to impose martial law for which he was impeached, indicates a prosecutor's report consulted on Saturday by the AFP.
“Have you not yet entered? What are you doing? Break the door and get them out, even if it means shooting.”he said on Dec. 3 in a phone call with Seoul's military commander, Lee Jin-woo, who was near Parliament, according to prosecutors.
He released to the media the indictment report of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, considered to be the person who pushed President Yoon to impose martial law.
It was proclaimed on December 3 to everyone's surprise, while the president sent the army to Parliament in order to muzzle it, plunging the country into chaos.
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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 to“get inside quickly” of Parliament.
“With an axe”
“Get the people inside the assembly out, destroy the doors with an ax if necessary”he 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 a third time”.
The president's lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, told AFP that this information from the prosecution was biased and did not correspond “neither to objective facts nor to common sense”.
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During a speech in December, Mr. Yoon said he would not consider a second attempt at proclaiming martial law and apologized for “anxiety and inconvenience”. Dismissed from his post, he is the subject of an investigation for “rebellion”a crime punishable by death and officially remains president while awaiting a ruling from the Constitutional Court, confirming or overturning the decision of the deputies.
The Corruption Investigation Bureau, which centralizes investigations, has already summoned the deposed president twice to question him about the events of the night of December 3 to 4, which stunned the country. 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.
Acting President Han Duck-soo was also 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”by doing “absolute priority”.
