Presidential Office Suddenly Withdraws Statement Saying "No Order to Arrest"
There are conflicting testimonies from National Intelligence Service (NIS) officials regarding whether President Yoon Seok-yeol ordered the arrest of key politicians following the declaration of martial law. NIS First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won stated that President Yoon gave direct orders for the arrests, while NIS Director Cho Tae-yong denied receiving such instructions.
Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-gi, the secretary of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, is briefing on the content of the meeting with Hong Jang-won, the first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, in front of the chairman's office of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee in Yeouido, Seoul, on the afternoon of the 6th. Photo by Yonhap News
On the 6th, First Deputy Director Hong met with Intelligence Committee Chairman Shin Sung-beom at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. The meeting was attended by Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-gi and Director Cho.
According to lawmaker Kim, President Yoon declared martial law and called First Deputy Director Hong directly, instructing him, "Take this opportunity to arrest them all and clean up," adding, "I will grant the NIS counterintelligence investigative authority, so first assist the Military Counterintelligence Command." Following this, First Deputy Director Hong called Military Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung to convey President Yoon’s orders.
Commander Yeo appears to have provided First Deputy Director Hong with a list of politicians to be arrested. Hong revealed that the list included Woo Won-sik, Speaker of the National Assembly; Han Dong-hoon, leader of the People Power Party; Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party; Park Chan-dae, floor leader; Kim Min-seok, senior supreme council member; Jung Cheong-rae, chairman of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee; Cho Guk, leader of the Cho Guk Innovation Party; YouTuber Kim Eo-jun; former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myung-soo; and former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il. Hong said he thought the list was absurd and stopped taking notes on it.
Cho Tae-yong, Director of the National Intelligence Service, is leaving the chairman's office after meeting with Shin Sung-bum, Chairman of the National Assembly Intelligence Committee, at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul on the 6th. Photo by Yonhap News
On the other hand, Director Cho stated that he never heard any order from President Yoon to arrest politicians. After his meeting with lawmaker Shin, Director Cho told reporters, "Regarding this martial law, President Yoon never instructed the NIS director to arrest politicians," adding, "I directly asked First Deputy Director Hong if he had received such an order, and he said it was false reporting."
He emphasized, "The NIS did not take any actions or measures to arrest politicians during the martial law," and "If there were any measures to be taken related to martial law, instructions would be given to the NIS director, not to anyone else."
A truth game also unfolded over First Deputy Director Hong’s resignation letter. After Hong refused President Yoon’s arrest order the previous day, Director Cho conveyed President Yoon’s instruction for his immediate dismissal. Hong submitted his resignation letter, but after his farewell ceremony that morning, Director Cho rejected the resignation. Cho said, "Recently, First Deputy Director Hong made inappropriate remarks regarding political independence," and added, "I judged that replacing the first deputy director was appropriate, so I recommended it to the president, and the personnel process is underway."
Meanwhile, the presidential office initially issued a statement denying that President Yoon had ordered the arrest or detention of lawmakers but abruptly withdrew the statement.
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