By Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – A former South Korean defence minister charged with insurrection for his role in trying to enforce martial law defended his actions at the start of his trial on Monday and blamed “wicked behaviour” by the opposition for triggering a political crisis.
Prosecutors have accused Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned and is now detained, of conspiring with President Yoon Suk Yeol to stage insurrection through martial law over the opposition’s control of parliament, indictments against him show.
Kim has denied wrongdoing and said imposing martial law was intended to raise alarm over the opposition’s dominance and gather information related to election fraud concerns.
“Wicked behaviour by the huge opposition party got worse,” Kim, dressed in a grey suit and a turtleneck, told the court, citing the Democratic Party’s moves to impeach multiple officials using its majority in parliament.
Last December, President Yoon shocked the nation by declaring martial law, saying he wanted to root out “anti-state forces” and overcome political deadlock.
Yoon and Kim deployed troops to six locations including parliament and the National Election Commission, and sought to block access from outside, according to the indictments.
Within hours, 190 lawmakers had defied cordons of troops and police and voted down Yoon’s order, prompting the president to rescind it.
“Did I stage an illegal coup or insurrection? No, I didn’t… How can you (prosecutors) call it conspiring or plotting when it was a discussion,” Kim said, referring to his alleged conversation with Yoon to plan martial law in advance.
ACCUSATIONS OF PLOTTING
Prosecutors also told the court that former army intelligence commander Noh Sang-won visited Kim’s residence every day from four days before the martial law order, and ordered military officers to prepare equipment such as cable ties to arrest election commission officials.
Lawyers for Kim say Noh, who is a co-defendant charged with insurrection, had nothing to do with the martial law and no connection to Yoon.
Noh was also accused of discussing military deployment plans with incumbent army officers at a Lotteria fast-food burger joint, two days before Yoon declared martial law, a police official has previously said.
During Monday’s opening arguments, prosecutor Yoo Byung-kuk, said martial law was not justified because it was not “a state of national emergency, or equivalent to wartime”.
“They (Kim and Yoon) mobilised the military and police to blockade the National Assembly … arrested and detained officials at the National Election Commission without a warrant,” said Yoo.
In reply, Kim’s lawyer Lee Ha-sang said prosecutors’ accusations were insufficient to amount to a crime of insurrection.
“Insurrection means harming stability and peace over a long time, but we don’t understand that martial command’s work such as restricting access could fit as insurrection,” he said.
Yoon is also facing a criminal trial for insurrection, though he was freed from detention earlier this month.
In addition, the president is waiting on an impeachment ruling expected in the coming days from the Constitutional Court to decide whether to remove him from office.
(Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies and Aidan Lewis)
