Prosecutors' Special Investigation Unit Seeks Arrest Warrant for Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun... Charged with Important Duties in Rebellion and Abuse of Authority

No Charges of Leading Rebellion Applied
Preliminary Hearing Scheduled for the 10th

The prosecution investigating the 'December 3 Emergency Martial Law Incident' filed an arrest warrant for former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun on the 9th.

That afternoon, the Prosecution's Special Investigation Headquarters for Emergency Martial Law (Head: Park Se-hyun, Chief Prosecutor of Seoul High Prosecutors' Office) announced that they had filed an arrest warrant against former Minister Kim on charges of engaging in important duties in a rebellion and obstruction of the exercise of official authority by abuse of power.

It is reported that the prosecution's arrest warrant application for former Minister Kim stated that he conspired with President Yoon Seok-yeol, Army Chief of Staff Park An-soo, Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun, Defense Counterintelligence Command Commander Yeo In-hyung, and Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo to incite a riot with the purpose of disrupting the constitutional order.

The prosecution applied the charge of engaging in important duties in a rebellion to former Minister Kim, rather than the charge of ringleader of rebellion. This appears to be based on the judgment that the final decision-maker of the December 3 emergency martial law was President Yoon.

A person engaging in important duties in a rebellion refers to someone who holds a significant responsible position related to the riot, other than the ringleader, commander, or conspirator who organizes, commands, or leads the riot, which is an element of the crime of rebellion. Former Minister Kim, who is one year senior to President Yoon at Chung-Ang High School, is known as the figure who proposed and led this emergency martial law.

Article 87 of the Criminal Act (Rebellion) stipulates, "Anyone who incites a riot with the purpose of excluding state power from all or part of the territory of the Republic of Korea or disrupting the constitutional order shall be punished according to the following classifications," and sets different penalties depending on the role of the person involved in the rebellion.

Accordingly, ▲ the ringleader who commanded the rebellion shall be punished by death, life imprisonment, or life imprisonment with labor (Clause 1) ▲ those who participated in the conspiracy, commanded, or engaged in other important duties, and those who carried out acts of killing, destruction, or looting shall be punished by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment or detention for five years or more (Clause 2) ▲ those who merely followed or were simply involved in the riot shall be punished by imprisonment or detention for up to five years (Clause 3).

Former Minister Kim is the person who proposed the declaration of emergency martial law to President Yoon. He is also pointed out as having commanded the announcement of the proclamation and the entry of martial law troops into the National Assembly and the Central Election Commission.

Deputy Minister of National Defense Kim Seon-ho and Army Chief of Staff Park An-soo, who was the martial law commander, said that it was former Minister Kim who gave the order for the martial law troops to enter the National Assembly.

Army Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun also stated, "During the emergency martial law, I received orders from former Minister Kim to remove personnel from the National Assembly building."

Former Minister Kim is reported to have generally acknowledged the facts such as proposing the emergency martial law during the prosecution investigation but claimed that "there was no illegality or unconstitutionality."

In a previous messenger interview with a media outlet, when asked, "Was sending martial law troops to the National Assembly to prevent the vote to lift the martial law?" he replied, "Yes. I think it was the minimum necessary measure."

Regarding the reason for deploying martial law troops to the Central Election Commission, he stated, "To assess the necessity of investigating allegations of election fraud at the Central Election Commission."

The prosecution persuaded former Minister Kim, who was reported on charges including rebellion, to voluntarily appear on the 8th and investigated him before making an emergency arrest. Since then, they have summoned and investigated him several times.

Under the revised Prosecutors' Office Act following the adjustment of investigative authority between the police and prosecution, the crime of rebellion is not defined as a crime that prosecutors can initiate investigations on their own. However, the prosecution's position is that they can investigate the rebellion charges against President Yoon or former Minister Kim as related crimes with the same facts as the abuse of official authority, which prosecutors can directly investigate.

Based on circumstances such as former Minister Kim withdrawing from his Telegram account before the prosecution investigation and replacing his mobile phone citing screen damage, the prosecution is believed to have included concerns about evidence destruction or flight risk in the arrest warrant application.

As the prosecution has taken the first step to secure custody in connection with this rebellion incident, attention is focused on whether the court will issue the warrant and what judgment it will make regarding the proof of rebellion charges.

The prosecution is accelerating the investigation by summoning former Chief Park and former Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Jeon Ha-gyu for questioning the previous day and summoning former Commander Kwak as a witness on the morning of the same day.

The prosecution also conducted a search and seizure of the Defense Counterintelligence Command on the same day and notified Defense Counterintelligence Command Commander Yeo In-hyung to appear for questioning on the 10th.

The decision on whether to detain former Minister Kim is expected to be made after the court's pre-arrest detention hearing (warrant substantive examination) on the 10th.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Justice imposed a travel ban on President Yoon on the same day.

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