Rep. Park Seon-won of the Democratic Party of Korea [National Assembly Press Photographers' Pool]
Rep. Park Seon-won of the Democratic Party of Korea [National Assembly Press Photographers' Pool]

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Park Seon-won said Wednesday that former President Yoon Suk Yeol mobilized the National Intelligence Service to compile a list of politicians deemed "security threats" and attempted to fabricate espionage cases to build a pretext for declaring emergency martial law on Dec. 3.

Park made the claims at a press conference at the National Assembly's media center, saying a special prosecutor investigation had confirmed that Yoon ordered the NIS to draw up what was internally called a "security threat forces" list.

According to Park, such a list of politicians and others had existed within the NIS since 2008. "Evidence has emerged that this list was attached to arrest plans drawn up after the declaration of emergency martial law," Park said.

Park also alleged that after former NIS Director Jo Tae-yong took office, the agency formed a task force on countering pro-Pyongyang influence operations, reported to the presidential office multiple times, and attempted to fabricate espionage cases involving figures from previous administrations.

"From 2023, Yoon used the NIS to try to secure a justification for martial law, and when that failed, he brought in the military to plan the emergency martial law declaration," Park said. He called for a reinvestigation of former Director Jo and others and for a full accounting of how the NIS compiled and maintained the security threat list, saying political manipulation must be rooted out entirely.


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