Hong Jang-won Testifies at Constitutional Court, "Yoon Said, 'Arrest Them All'"

"I Thought Something Was Wrong When I Saw the Arrest List...
I Remember It Was About 14 to 16 People"

Hong Jang-won, former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service, testified at the Constitutional Court that he received direct orders from President Yoon Seok-yeol regarding the arrest of politicians during the December 3 emergency martial law.

Yonhap News

On the 4th, Hong appeared as a witness at the 5th hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial and responded to the National Assembly's question, "Did President Yoon say, 'Arrest them all, I will grant the National Intelligence Service counterintelligence investigation authority, so assist the Defense Counterintelligence Command'?" by saying, "I remember it that way."

However, Hong explained that he was not informed about who exactly was to be arrested and said he called former Defense Counterintelligence Command Commander Yeo In-hyung to find out.

When asked whether the exact wording used by former Commander Yeo was "arrest team" and if he heard that the arrest targets would be detained and interrogated at the counterintelligence detention facility after capture, Hong answered, "Yes."

He also testified that he took notes of the arrest list dictated by former Commander Yeo, saying, "As I was writing, I wondered what this was, so I stopped taking notes halfway through the rest and tried to recall from memory, and I remember it was about 14 or 16 people."

Hong added, "Because the events that took place that night at the National Assembly were watched by the entire nation through broadcasts, the withdrawal of martial law troops and the lifting of martial law cannot be seen as if nothing happened," and said, "Even now, I think if President Yoon had sincerely apologized to the people and expressed his feelings at the time, it would have been much more persuasive to the public."

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