Assemblyman Heo Young's Rebuke: "Have Some Shame"
About Two-Thirds of Over 50 Military Officers Raise Their Hands
On the 10th, military officers attending the National Assembly National Defense Committee were captured raising their hands en masse in response to an opposition lawmaker's question, "Raise your hand if you learned about the '12·3 Martial Law' from watching TV." On the same day, Rep. Heo Young of the Democratic Party of Korea criticized General Park An-su, Martial Law Commander (Chief of Staff of the Army), who appeared before the National Defense Committee, asking, "Why did you not issue a withdrawal order? Why did you not invoke special measures authority?"
On the 10th, military officers attending the National Defense Committee at the National Assembly were seen raising their hands in response to an opposition lawmaker's question, "Raise your hand if you knew about the 'December 3 Emergency Martial Law' from watching TV."
Rep. Heo then pointed out that General Park had previously answered, "I learned about President Yoon Seok-yeol's martial law declaration from watching TV and felt a sense of concern," saying, "You learned from TV? The Martial Law Commander, Deputy Martial Law Commander, and Defense Security Command Commander all initially said they learned from TV. But isn't the truth gradually coming out?" He asked, "There are 50 commanders sitting here; raise your hand if you learned from TV." In response, about two-thirds of the 50 active-duty military personnel, including senior officers from the Ministry of National Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and operational unit commanders seated behind General Park, raised their hands en masse. Seeing this, Rep. Heo raised his voice, saying, "You all should be ashamed."
On the 10th, Park An-su, Chief of Staff of the Army, and other military officials attended the emergency martial law-related current issue inquiry held at the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly.
Meanwhile, earlier, Lieutenant General Kwak Jong-geun, Commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, who had said he learned about the martial law from watching TV, stated on this day that he was aware of the preliminary details of the martial law before its declaration on the 3rd, specifically on the 1st. However, when former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun instructed on the 1st to "secure six locations including the National Assembly, the Election Commission, the Democratic Party headquarters, and the 'flower' of public opinion polls," martial law was not mentioned, but he inferred that it was a martial law situation.
On the 10th, military officers attending the National Defense Committee at the National Assembly were seen raising their hands all at once in response to an opposition lawmaker's question, "Raise your hand if you knew about the 'December 3 Emergency Martial Law' from watching TV."
Regarding this, Rep. Park Beom-gye of the Democratic Party of Korea said, "Commander Kwak did not testify to the prosecution about his prior knowledge," adding, "He said he did not testify because the statements of those involved in the martial law had already been coordinated. He made a whistleblower report to me today." When Rep. Seong Il-jong of the People Power Party asked Commander Kwak whether the statements were actually coordinated or if it was just his impression, Kwak replied, "I felt that the statements were coordinated because most of the related parties said they learned about the martial law from media reports." Most of the general officers who appeared before the National Defense Committee, except for Commander Kwak, answered "I did not know in advance" when asked if they knew about the martial law before its declaration, and one general officer responded that he "knew the signs."
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