South Korea’s previous defense minister Kim Yong Hyun was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law case, officials said, as police were trying to search President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office Wednesday in their intensifying investigation.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party also plans to submit a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 declaration that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades. Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a floor vote.
Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea’s state media for the first time reported about the South Korean turmoil, but the country hasn’t yet showed any suspicious activities.
Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday that Kim tried to kill himself the previous night at a detention center in Seoul. He said that Kim’s suicide attempt failed after center officials stopped him and that he’s in stable condition now.
At the same parliamentary committee meeting, Justice Minister Park Sung Jae confirmed Kim’s failed suicide attempt.
Kim was arrested early Wednesday after a Seoul court approved a warrant for him on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. Kim became the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree.
Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec. 4.
Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing significant anxiety” to the public. He said all responsibility for the martial law imposition rests with him and pleaded for leniency for soldiers deployed to enforce it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to determine whether to indict Kim.
Later Wednesday, National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, head of the metropolitan police agency of the capital, Seoul, were detained over the martial law, police said. They were accused of deploying police forces to the National Assembly to block lawmakers’ voting, together with troops.
The country’s main law enforcement institutions are focusing on finding whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in imposing martial law committed the crime of rebellion. A conviction on the charge of rebellion carries a maximum death sentence.
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office on Wednesday to look for any evidence related to the martial law introduction. It wasn’t immediately clear if they began searches.
Some observers earlier said that the presidential security service won’t likely permit searches of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites with state secrets without approval from those in charge of those areas.
Yoon on Saturday apologized over the martial law decree, saying that he won’t avoid legal or political responsibility for it. Yoon also said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange the president’s stable exit from office, saying the party will coordinate with Cabinet members over state affairs and that Yoon will be sidelined from duties.
The comments were criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional, but caused widespread questions about who is in charge of South Korea and its military at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea. The Justice Ministry on Tuesday banned Yoon from leaving the country as he faces investigations.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho reiterated Wednesday that Yoon remains in charge of the country’s military forces. But Yoon hasn’t been involved in any major official activities since lifting martial law, except for accepting resignation offers by officials involved in the martial law case and appointing a head for the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
A Wednesday article from the North’s state news agency reported about the South Korean political chaos and protests triggered by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mostly attempted to explain the South Korean events, though it called Yoon “a traitor” and his military “gangsters.”
Many experts say North Korea is sensitive to the domestic spread of news on major anti-government protests in foreign countries, because its own people have no official access to international news and could be affected by such events. The U.S. State Department said Monday that the U.S.-South Korean alliance remains “iron-clad” and that Washington is committed to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.
In his martial law announcement, the conservative Yoon stressed a need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces,” a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has had near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which introduced motions to impeach some of his top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergency situations, but South Korea wasn’t in such a predicament. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the South Korean Constitution doesn’t allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.
During a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command whose troops were sent to parliament, testified that Yoon called him and asked for the troops deployed at parliament to “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside.” Kwak said he didn’t carry out Yoon’s order.
At the same hearing, senior officer Kim Dae-woo of the military’s counterintelligence agency said that his commander, Yeo In-hyung, asked him if an army bunker in Seoul had space to detain politicians and other figures after martial law was imposed. Yeo is considered a close associate of Kim Yong Hyun.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he is dismissed from office, a new presidential election would be required.
