Military Removes Commanders of Counterintelligence, Security, Special Operations, and Intelligence Commands

The Army Chief of Staff Cannot Be Relieved Due to Lack of Senior Officers
Indictment Leave Expected

On December 3rd last year, key commanders involved in the emergency martial law incident were relieved of their posts.

Traces of the December 3 Martial Law Incident remain in the main building of the National Assembly. Although the sitting president was arrested and detained for the first time in constitutional history on charges of being the ringleader of a rebellion, the scars from that day still remain. Photo by Kim Hyun-min

On the 20th, the Ministry of National Defense held a personnel dismissal review committee and decided to relieve four commanders who were indicted and detained due to the emergency martial law incident: Yeo In-hyung, Commander of the Defense Security Command; Lee Jin-woo, Commander of the Capital Defense Command; Kwak Jong-geun, Commander of the Special Warfare Command; and Moon Sang-ho, Commander of the Intelligence Command.

The personnel dismissal orders will be issued on the 21st after notifying the individuals of the review results. Additionally, the generals relieved of their posts will also be placed on leave due to the indictments.

Meanwhile, Park An-soo, Chief of Staff of the Army, who served as the martial law commander during the emergency martial law, was not relieved of his post. This is due to related regulations requiring the review committee to be composed of at least three members senior to the person under review.

Currently, among active-duty military personnel, only Kim Myung-soo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is senior to Chief Park. A decision on 'indictment leave' for Chief Park, along with the four relieved commanders, is expected to be made early next month.

When placed on indictment leave, individuals typically receive only 50% of their salary and are prohibited from taking other posts until their sentence is finalized for the charges against them.

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