hankyoreh

Kim Seong-hun, the deputy chief of the Presidential Security Service, speaks at the inaugural hearing of a special legislative commission related to martial law held on Jan. 22, 2025. (Yoon Woon-sik/Hankyoreh)

A torrent of testimonies substantiating President Yoon Suk-yeol’s blatant disregard for the Constitution came spilling forth during the first parliamentary hearing held to investigate the Dec. 3 martial law debacle, which was attended by such key players in the operation as Kwak Jong-geun, former head of Army Special Warfare Command.
 
Important witnesses, including Yoon, ex-defense chief Kim Yong-hyun, and former head of the Defense Intelligence Command Roh Sang-won, were not in attendance.
 
Former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, along with Presidential Security Service (PSS) deputy head Kim Seong-hun, refused to testify or feigned ignorance when asked about the chief allegations.
 
During Wednesday’s hearing led by a special parliamentary audit commission investigating allegations of insurrection, Democratic Party lawmaker Han Byung-do informed Kwak that Yoon’s legal counsel had denied that Yoon had ever ordered the arrest and detainment of politicians after declaring martial law during a hearing at the Constitutional Court the day before.
 
Kwak responded to such information by stating, “I stand by the claims I made in previous testimonies. I submitted a statement to prosecutors on Dec. 9, 2024, based on that testimony and made the same claim during parliament’s National Defense Committee on Dec. 10.”
 
Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of Seoul’s National Intelligence Service, also corroborated the claims, stating that he received a call from Yoon at 10:53 pm, promptly after the martial law declaration, in which he was ordered to “round them all up,” in reference to key political figures. 
 
Amid fierce opposition from the ruling party, the special commission issued subpoenas for Yoon, Kim and seven other key figures and ordered them to appear at the hearing by 2 pm. However, Kwak was the sole participant in the hearing, as the other six refused to attend.
 
While Lee did make an appearance, he cited the ongoing criminal justice procedure as the reason for his “refusal to testify,” therefore answering none of the questions directed at him. When the other witnesses, such as former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, stood and raised their right hands to take an oath to speak truthfully before their testimonies, Lee alone remained seated.
 
Basic Income Party lawmaker Yong Hye-in posited various questions regarding his follow-up actions to the martial law declaration and communication with the police leadership to the former interior minister, including whether he had “instructed the fire commissioner to cut off electricity and water to six news agencies, including the Hankyoreh, at 23:47 on Dec. 3.” Lee refused to answer Yong’s line of questioning eight times in a row.
 
Presidential Security Service deputy head Kim Seong-hun, a figure seen as having close ties to first lady Kim Keon-hee, also displayed willful ignorance regarding various allegations. When asked by Democratic Party lawmaker Youn Kun-young if the first lady had ever distributed encrypted phones to PSS staff, Kim Seong-hun refused to give an honest answer, only replying that he “could not confirm.” 
 
The special police team investigating the martial law incident testified that Yoon ordered Kim Seong-hun and others to utilize firearms and delete the call history of the encrypted phones when requesting an arrest warrant for the deputy PSS chief on Saturday, a claim that Kim emphatically denied.

By Ki Min-do, staff reporter

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