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, indicates a prosecutor’s report consulted on Saturday by AFP. The man has since been dismissed.
‘Haven’t you come in yet? What are you doing? Break the door and take them out, even if it means shooting,’ he said in a Dec. 3 phone call with Seoul’s military commander, Lee Jin-woo, who was near Parliament, according to the prosecution.
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. The latter 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.
‘With an axe’
After martial law was declared, heavily armed soldiers stormed Parliament, scaling barriers and smashing windows. Some landed by helicopter.
According to the 10-page report, the president also ordered military counterintelligence chief Gen. Kwak Jong-keun to ‘quickly enter inside’ Parliament.
‘Get people out inside the assembly, destroy the doors with an ax if necessary,’ he said, according to the prosecution. Still according to the latter, the president discussed martial law in March with senior military officials.
The president’s lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, told AFP that this information from the prosecution was biased and corresponded ‘neither to objective facts nor to common sense’.
/ATS
World
