Acting Chief Choi Appears at National Assembly Special Committee... "Received Emergency Legislative Body Note After Yoon Called"

Choi Sang-mok Maintains He Received a Note from Yoon
Yoon Says, "I Never Gave It"... Truth Dispute Continues
Choi: "Martial Law Was a Wrong Decision... I Strongly Opposed It"

Choe Sang-mok, Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Economy and Finance, is speaking at the 3rd hearing of the "Special Committee on the National Investigation into the Charges of Insurrection through the Declaration of Martial Law by the Yoon Seok-yeol Government," held on the 6th at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News.

Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, a key witness who can confirm the purpose of the emergency martial law as a disruption of the national constitution, testified again on the 6th that he received a note from President Yoon Suk-yeol regarding the budget allocation for the establishment of an emergency legislative body at the time of the emergency martial law declaration. Since President Yoon denies having given such a note to Acting Prime Minister Choi, a 'truth dispute' is expected to arise again.

Acting Prime Minister Choi made these remarks at the 3rd hearing of the 'Special Committee for the Investigation of the Alleged Treason Charges through the Declaration of Emergency Martial Law by the Yoon Suk-yeol Government (Special Investigation Committee)' held at the National Assembly that morning. In response to a question from Rep. Chu Mi-ae of the Democratic Party of Korea asking, "Did you receive a note from President Yoon at the Cabinet meeting on the day the emergency martial law was declared?" Choi said, "(President Yoon) called me the Minister of Strategy and Finance, and (immediately after) someone next to him handed me a reference material." He added, "I did not think it was an order, but considered it as reference material."

This is consistent with what Acting Prime Minister Choi said at the National Assembly after the martial law incident last December. The note Choi received is known to have contained instructions to cut off National Assembly funds and allocate the budget related to the emergency legislative body.

However, President Yoon denies this. On the 21st of last month, during the Constitutional Court impeachment trial, he said, "I never gave this, and I saw in the news that a memo appeared later." Former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun, considered a key instigator of the martial law, also testified at the Constitutional Court on the 23rd of last month that "I wrote the note, not President Yoon, and delivered it to Acting Prime Minister Choi through a staff member."

The importance of Acting Prime Minister Choi's testimony lies in the fact that he was responsible for the budget allocation for the establishment of the emergency legislative body at the time of the emergency martial law declaration. The crime of treason, according to Article 87 of the Criminal Act, applies to those who commit a riot with the purpose of disrupting the national constitution. If it is accepted as true that President Yoon sent the note to Acting Prime Minister Choi, it is highly likely that the purpose of 'disrupting the national constitution' by neutralizing the National Assembly and creating a separate legislative body will be proven.

Acting Prime Minister Choi said on the day that he thought President Yoon's declaration of emergency martial law was "a wrong decision" and that he strongly opposed it at the time.

Meanwhile, the hearing was also attended by presidential office aides including Chief of Staff Jeong Jin-seok and Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Joo-hyun. Although President Yoon Suk-yeol was summoned as a witness, he did not attend citing his participation in the Constitutional Court impeachment trial.

Choe Sang-mok, Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister as well as Minister of Economy and Finance (left), and Jeong Jin-seok, Chief of Staff to the President, are conversing at the 3rd hearing of the "Special Committee on the National Investigation into the Alleged Insurrection through the Declaration of Martial Law by the Yoon Seok-yeol Administration," held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the 6th. Photo by Yonhap News.

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