Martial law 'general election server' NIS Dispute Yoon Seok-yeol's failure to apologize 'National Election Commission' impeachment excluded
Foreign media reported the purpose of martial law as ‘securing general election servers’, and President Yoon Seok-yeol apologized immediately after the server analysis results came out on the 7th, but the Central Election Management Committee was not included in the transfer of martial law duties under the martial law law, so it was excluded from the opposition party’s impeachment motion despite being illegal.
The New York Times said, “South Korea’s military, which was a main agent of terrorism and violence in the 1970s and 1980s, had thoroughly washed away its image for decades, and many people saw it as a modern and well-disciplined military, but that image was shattered on the 5th when martial law was briefly lifted this week,” and “the image made the military look unprepared and disorganized from top to bottom.” It exposed the weakness of the South Korean military.
Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the Democratic Party, set up a situation room with former National Intelligence Service officials before the general election, nominated former Vice Minister Park Sun-won as Director Kim Min-seok, and activated a special team. After the landslide victory in the general election, the Yoon Seok-yeol regime was already officially recognized as a martial law preparation due to the exposure of overseas intelligence agencies’ preparations for martial law, and this martial law wave broke out.
The Korean military faced a 'failed coup' when the route of the National Assembly helicopters crossing the Han River was blocked by an aerial password, rendering the exit confusing for more than 40 minutes and rendering it powerless, while the information had already been leaked from the 'decapitation unit helicopter operation' that operated with the US military's encryption system. It appears that the weakness of the Korean military was exposed when the Democratic Party responded to the 'night of the 6th', the last exit, with the 'risk of a second martial law' while pinning their hopes on forensics after the hijacking of the National Election Commission server.
On the 6th, Hong Jang-won, 1st Vice Director of the National Intelligence Service, stated in his report to the National Assembly Intelligence Committee Chairman, “President Yoon directly ordered the arrest of major politicians and others immediately after the declaration of martial law on the 3rd.”
Hong continued, “Afterwards, I called Yeo In-hyeong, the commander of the counterintelligence unit, and relayed President Yoon’s instructions. The female commander read out a list of people to be arrested and requested that we track their locations for arrest.”
He stated that the list of people to be arrested included National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik, Representative Han Dong-hoon, Representative Lee Jae-myung, Floor Leader Park Chan-dae, Senior Supreme Council Member Kim Min-seok, Chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee Jeong Cheong-rae, Representative Cho Kuk, YouTuber Kim Eo-jun, former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Kim Myung-soo, and former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il.
Former Deputy Director Hong Jang-won, who resigned as the First Vice Director of the National Intelligence Service, stated that he reported to Director Cho Tae-yong of the National Intelligence Service that President Yoon had instructed him to arrest key politicians, and Director Cho Tae-yong denied receiving any reports regarding the “politician arrests” in an exclusive interview with KBS.
KBS reported on the 8th that “the two leaders of the National Intelligence Service have been engaged in a war of words since the martial law wave,” and that “they are giving completely opposite accounts of what they said in private.”
KBS stated that “former First Vice Director Hong Jang-won said that after receiving a call from President Yoon, he went to see Director Cho Tae-yong of the National Intelligence Service and reported the president’s instructions,” and that “when he reported President Yoon’s instructions to support the counterintelligence service, Director Cho quickly turned his head and avoided the conversation, saying, ‘Let’s talk tomorrow.’ He also said that he was not surprised when the counterintelligence service said that they were going after Han Dong-hoon, the People Power Party leader, and Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party leader.”
KBS continued, “However, in an interview with KBS, NIS Director Cho Tae-yong refuted the claims, saying that he had been briefed on the president’s instructions but that there was no mention of arresting politicians,” and “He also said that he learned of the arrest of politicians after seeing a media report on the 6th. This is the exact opposite of what the two people said in private. It seems that a war of words will unfold as the report and knowledge of the ‘arrest of politicians’ could become a point of contention in the upcoming martial law investigation.”
Article 114 of the Constitution states that <②The Central Election Management Committee shall be composed of three members appointed by the President, three members elected by the National Assembly, and three members nominated by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court>, which means that the President is within the power of governance and has become a legal device to prevent ‘infringement of duties’ even under martial law. Article 14-2 of the National Election Commission Act (Suspension, Warning, etc. for Election Law Violations) stipulates that members and staff of each level of the National Election Commission <request investigation or report to the competent investigative agency for election law violations>, but the opposition party's impeachment motion completely excluded 'election law violations'.
On the 6th, when asked on YTN, "Why are so many people involved in the National Election Commission?", Kim Yong-bin, Secretary General of the National Election Commission, said, "I don't quite understand that part either. As for the martial law part, regardless of whether martial law is unconstitutional or not, when looking at the work of our National Election Commission, election management work is not transferred or anything like that just because martial law is declared." He judged the 'filming of martial law troops entering the election office building' as an 'illegal act'.
The Yomiuri reported, "On the night that South Korea's "martial law" was declared, 300 martial law troops entered the election office building. Is this to prove the allegations of fraud in the general election?> reported at 7 a.m. on the 7th, and President Yoon announced an “apology” and that he would follow the People Power Party’s decision in a speech at 10 a.m.
The Yomiuri reported, “The purpose of the sudden declaration of martial law is to prove with strong means that the opposition party has seized control of the majority in the National Assembly through illegal means,” and “Kim Yong-hyun graduated from the same high school as President Yoon, and both are hardliners on North Korea. It is known that the plan for martial law has been promoted with a limited number of aides since August of this year when the chief of the presidential security service was hastily appointed as the Minister of National Defense.”
On the 6th, lawmakers from the Democratic Party of Korea (DPJ) announced that after analyzing the security camera footage inside the Election Management Headquarters building, they found that martial law forces who entered the government building filmed the server that manages the voter list in the computer room.
The Yomiuri said, “The fact that martial law troops entered the government building around 10:30 p.m. on the 3rd, immediately after martial law was declared, suggests that it was meticulously planned in advance,” and “It is customary for the chairman of the Central Election Management Committee to be a former Supreme Court justice, and the reason Kim Yong-hyun decided to use martial law may be because it is difficult for the judiciary to investigate allegations of election fraud.”
The Yomiuri continued, “Although some conservative YouTubers have raised suspicions of fraud surrounding the general election, they are perceived as conspiracy theories,” and “There is also the possibility that President Yoon and others will make statements related to election fraud in the future.”
Reuters reported on the 7th, “He said, “I will leave it up to our party to take measures to stabilize the political situation going forward, including the issue of my term.” Han Dong-hoon, the leader of South Korea’s ruling party, said after President Yoon’s speech that the president is no longer in a position to perform his public duties and that his resignation is now inevitable.”
On the 6th, the AP reported in an interview with Representative Lee Jae-myung that "the more dangerous part of the martial law incident is not the fact that he did it (martial law), but the mental state of the president who decided to do something that no one understands," and that "he is likely to do something completely incomprehensible in security, defense, economy, and foreign affairs."
In response, the AP reported that "when the Office of the President asked the President about his mental state, the Office of the President responded that the President has no problems carrying out state affairs and making decisions and is performing his duties normally."
In an interview with Representative Lee, AFP reported on the 6th that "it is important to view President Yoon's extremely irrational, impulsive, and unreasonable decisions as a very unusual phenomenon," and likened President Yoon's actions to "a sudden fever caused by bacteria." AFP reported that the representative said that “tonight will be the most crucial night” and that all Democratic Party lawmakers would remain in the main chamber of the National Assembly as they did on the 3rd. Lee went on to say that he was particularly concerned about the “night of the 6th,” saying, “People may think that the military and police will hesitate to try again, but President Yoon could exploit any loophole and try again.”
<Refer to the Yoon Seok-yeol-Lee Jae-myung regime's psychological warfare cooperation 'making enemies of doctors' hard-line conservative strategy, March 7, 2024>