Kim Myung-soo indicted without detention on insurrection and subordinate-crime charges
Jeong Jin-pal, Kim Heung-jun, Lee Jae-sik indicted in custody
By Choi Eui-jong, The Herald Business
The second comprehensive special prosecutor team, which is investigating allegations left unresolved after three earlier special counsel probes into insurrection, first lady Kim Keon Hee, and the Marine corporal case, has indicted former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Kim Myung-soo and three others in connection with the military's alleged involvement in last year's emergency martial law — the team's first self-initiated case.
The team announced at a briefing Thursday that it had indicted Kim on Wednesday without detention on charges of performing an important role in insurrection and a subordinate-crime offense. It also indicted in custody former Joint Chiefs Vice Chairman Jeong Jin-pal, former Army headquarters policy chief Kim Heung-jun, and former Joint Chiefs combat-readiness inspection deputy chief Lee Jae-sik on insurrection charges.
Three other Joint Chiefs officials who had been booked on the same insurrection charge — former operations chief Lee Seung-o, former military support chief Kang Dong-gil, and former operations director An Chang-myeong — were cleared and will not be prosecuted. The team determined they had no intent to undermine the constitutional order, citing their actions in reporting concerns about the martial law declaration itself and urging the prompt withdrawal of troops.
According to the special prosecutor team, Kim is accused of issuing a fragmentary order to the Special Warfare Command and the Capital Defense Command to prioritize martial law duties during the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency martial law, thereby supporting illegal martial law activities and cooperating in the formation of the martial law command. The team believes Kim ignored advice from his staff to withdraw troops that had been deployed to the National Assembly.
Jeong, Kim Heung-jun, and Lee Jae-sik are accused of serving as deputy commander, chief of staff, and planning and coordination chief of the martial law command, respectively — assisting the martial law commander's illegal operations, supporting the Special Warfare Command and Capital Defense Command in carrying out illegal martial law duties, and playing a significant role in the insurrectionary riot, including pushing to deploy additional troops after the National Assembly voted to lift martial law.
The team said the Joint Chiefs' legal affairs chief had urged troop withdrawal three to four times during the martial law period, but Kim responded with indifference. According to the team, the legal affairs chief raised objections — saying the martial law did not meet legal requirements, that it had not gone through Cabinet deliberation, and that troops should not be sent to the National Assembly — but Kim replied, "Couldn't that be possible?"
Kim, however, told investigators during questioning that when former President Yoon Suk Yeol visited the Joint Chiefs' combat control room during the martial law period, Yoon remarked, "The Joint Chiefs chairman is here too." The statement is seen as an attempt by Kim to emphasize that he had not been involved in the emergency martial law.
At Thursday's briefing, Deputy Special Prosecutor Kim Jeong-min explained the decision to clear the three officials, saying they had "strongly urged troop withdrawal after seeing helicopters fly over the National Assembly during the martial law period and repeatedly reported that the procedures were unlawful."
Kim Jeong-min added that the team "will do its utmost to maintain the prosecution going forward, so that all those who participated in the insurrectionary riot aimed at undermining the constitutional order are held strictly accountable under the law, regardless of their rank or position."
The special prosecutor team, which launched in February, took the Joint Chiefs' alleged martial law involvement as its first self-initiated case. Last month, it sought arrest warrants for Kim Myung-soo, Jeong, Lee Jae-sik, and Kim Heung-jun. The court rejected the warrant for Kim Myung-soo, saying "there is room for dispute over the primary criminal charges," but approved warrants for Jeong and the other two.
Kim Myung-soo's legal team issued a statement Thursday denying the charges, saying he "was thoroughly excluded from the planning and preparation of the emergency martial law and first learned of the declaration while preparing to take up residence at the official quarters." The statement added that Kim "personally added language to the fragmentary order to restrict troop movement" and "repeatedly urged the recovery of command authority and early termination" of the martial law.
bell@heraldcorp.com
