Prime Minister Kim Orders Urgent Investigation into Allegations of National Railroad Corporation’s Complicity in 'Illegal Martial Law'

Regarding allegations that the National Railroad Corporation continued to operate a martial law enforcement system even after the National Assembly demanded the lifting of martial law during the 12·3 illegal martial law incident, Prime Minister Kim Minseok issued an urgent order on May 7 to conduct a thorough investigation.

According to the Office for Government Policy Coordination on the same day, Prime Minister Kim instructed the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stating, "This issue regarding the National Railroad Corporation should have been identified and addressed during the activities of the Constitutional Respect Government Innovation Task Force (TF), which concluded in February. The Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport must take responsibility for investigating the facts and rigorously check whether similar cases have occurred at subordinate public institutions."

He also directed the chief of the Office for Government Policy Coordination to "verify whether the investigation and inspection results conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport regarding the National Railroad Corporation are appropriate."

Previously, according to a report by MBC, it was found that the National Railroad Corporation had attempted to comply with martial law even after the resolution to lift the 12·3 illegal martial law, such as by disseminating internal notices related to the martial law proclamation. The National Railroad Corporation manages state-owned railway tracks, and at that time, it allegedly operated its own illegal martial law enforcement system by transmitting the martial law commander's proclamation to regional offices nationwide and instructing them to cooperate with the relevant military and police authorities.