Former Special Warfare Commander Gwak Jong-geun Appearing Before Prosecutors: "Apologize to the Public... Sorry to Special Forces Soldiers"

The prosecution investigating the December 3 emergency martial law incident summoned former Army Special Warfare Command Commander Gwak Jong-geun for questioning on the 9th.

Kwack Jong-geun, former Commander of the Army Special Warfare Command. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

The Prosecution's Special Investigation Headquarters for Emergency Martial Law (Head: Park Se-hyun) called former Commander Gwak to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office for questioning that morning.

Upon appearing before the prosecution, former Commander Gwak told reporters, "I sincerely apologize once again to the people," adding, "I truly love the Special Forces members who trusted and followed me, and I feel deeply sorry and regretful." He further stated, "I will sincerely cooperate during the investigation and explain everything based on the facts."

At the time martial law was declared on the 3rd, former Commander Gwak deployed troops to the National Assembly and other locations under the orders of former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun. On the 6th, when Democratic Party lawmakers Kim Byung-joo and Park Seon-won visited the command in protest, he met with them and revealed, "During the martial law period, I received orders from former Minister Kim to 'remove personnel from the National Assembly building'." However, he added, "I judged that forcibly removing lawmakers was clearly illegal, so I believed it would be an act of insubordination, and therefore I did not carry out that mission."

The Ministry of National Defense suspended former Commander Gwak from his duties on the 6th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.