Disclosure of new DSC document indicates turning point in investigation

Posted on : 2018-07-21 15:05 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Additional details reveal intention to concretely implement martial law
” which was part of the DSC’s “Wartime Martial Law and Joint Investigation Plan
” which was part of the DSC’s “Wartime Martial Law and Joint Investigation Plan

The disclosure on July 20 of a new 67-page document in which the South Korean military’s Defense Security Command (DSC) reviewed a garrison decree and martial law decree during the impeachment proceedings early last year represents a turning point in the investigation into another document about the martial law decree.

An independent team of investigators under Chun Ik-su, chief legal officer for the Air Force, is expected to focus its efforts on determining how and why this document was composed. The team, which was set up last week under orders from South Korean President Moon Jae-in, is charged with investigating the DSC’s “Wartime Martial Law and Joint Investigation Plan” document and its alleged surveillance of civilians connected with the sinking of the Sewol ferry.

This 67-page document, which is titled “Specifics of the Contingency Plan,” goes beyond the previously released eight-page “Wartime Martial Law and Joint Investigation Plan” document with what appears to be a concrete action plan, including the text of proclamations of martial law and emergency-level martial law and a way to prevent the National Assembly (which was controlled by the opposition at the time) from voting to end martial law.

Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum discloses outlines of the “Specifics of the Provisional Plan
Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyum discloses outlines of the “Specifics of the Provisional Plan

Not just “reference material”

A spokesperson for the DSC offered the following explanation of why the 67-page document was composed: “This was drafted to be a reference material for the eight-page document. When writing a report, it’s normal to draft and attach reference materials that provide details about matters that are likely to be of interest to the commander. Briefings on these two documents were delivered both to then Defense Minister Han Min-goo in Mar. 2017 and to current Defense Minister Song Young-moo in Mar. 2018. These documents represent a procedural review of a martial law decree and were certainly not an action plan for martial law.”

But the team of investigators are focusing on the fact that the 67-page document reviews the methods of implementing a martial law decree in too much detail to be regarded as merely reference material for the eight-page document previously released by Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Cheol-hui. They believe that this document can back up allegations that the DSC considered a plan to actually impose martial law after the verdict was made in former president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment trial in early 2017.

”Secret” classification

Another matter that must be addressed is why the 67-page document was given “secret” classification” while the eight-page document was just a normal unclassified document. This is raising suspicions that the DSC classified this document because it contained some kind of secret that could not be made public.

Furthermore, though every page of the 67-page document is stamped as having “secret classification,” the document itself was not registered as being classified. According to Article 23 (The Production of Classified Material) of the Defense Ministry’s Military Security Work Decree, the designation of classified documents is to be determined by the authorized individual after the writer of the document defines and reports its classification level, protection period, preservation period and circulation route.

When a document is classified in this way, it must be immediately registered in the “classified material management receipt ledger”; when a copy of a classified document is sent on its distribution route, it must be registered in the “classified material management transmission ledger”; and at normal times it must be managed using a “classified record card.” Investigators will have to figure out why the 67-page document was not registered in these ledgers and whether any laws were broken or regulations violated along the way.

“The 67-page document contained some information from classified documents, including the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s wartime martial law plan. So although it wasn’t registered as classified, we managed it by stamping it with ‘secret classification,’” said a DSC spokesperson.

By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]

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