The 'Martial Law Command Proclamation (No. 1)', which has been pointed out as unconstitutional from the very first article, was directly delivered by former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun to Army Chief of Staff Park An-su, who was appointed as the Martial Law Commander.
On the 5th, General Park appeared at an emergency inquiry of the National Assembly's Defense Committee and recalled the situation, saying, "I did not know exactly what the proclamation contained, so I said, 'Minister, I think this needs legal review.'" He then said that former Minister Kim told him the legal review had been completed. General Park said he "briefly reviewed" the proclamation but added that he had no "expertise" on martial law. When asked about the first time he saw the proclamation, Park Seon-won, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, asked, "Did you see it between 10:30 and 11 p.m. on the 3rd?" to which he replied, "Yes."
Opposition lawmakers questioned whether President Yoon Seok-yeol or former Minister Kim wrote the proclamation, but General Park only answered, "I don't know." Kim Seon-ho, Deputy Minister of National Defense, who appeared in place of former Minister Kim whose dismissal was approved that day, stated, "I cannot currently confirm who authored it, but one thing I can say is that, as far as I have confirmed, it was not drafted by the Ministry of National Defense."
Regarding the situation after receiving the proclamation from former Minister Kim, General Park said, "There were about four of us together. They said it had been legally reviewed, but we decided to look at it again and read it together. However, those four people also did not know much about martial law, just like me, so time passed as we wondered what to do." He continued, "Then I received a phone call again, and the spokesperson contacted me to declare the proclamation, so I rushed up. The draft proclamation had the issuance time as 10 p.m. Since the proclamation was made after 10 p.m., I said, 'The time doesn't match.' We only changed the time to 11 p.m. and then announced it," he explained. When asked if he received any documents such as the martial law operations manual, execution plans, or various guidelines besides the proclamation, he answered, "No." Martial Law Proclamation No. 1 stipulates in Article 1 that "all political activities including the activities of the National Assembly, local councils, political parties, political organizations, assemblies, and demonstrations are prohibited," which immediately raised concerns about unconstitutionality. Although the Constitution allows special measures in administration and judiciary during martial law, it does not specify authority over legislative activities.
The proclamation also uses extreme expressions such as ordering striking medical residents to return to work and threatening "punishment" if violated, which is highly unusual, leading to ongoing controversy over who authored it. General Park said he asked former Minister Kim, "Regarding nationwide emergency martial law, you should have received delegation from the President. Did you receive such delegation?" and was told, "Yes, I did." He also revealed that the Martial Law Command was set up in the operations conference room in the basement of the Joint Chiefs of Staff building.
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