Commander Moon Sang-ho of the Defense Security Command Arrested on Charges of Pre-Planning the December 3 Emergency Martial Law

Central Military Court Issues Warrant
"Risk of Evidence Destruction and Flight"

Moon Sang-ho, Commander of the Defense Intelligence Command (Army Major General), who is accused of premeditating the '12·3 Martial Law' and attempting to seize control of the National Election Commission (NEC), was arrested on the 20th.

The joint investigation headquarters, including the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division, announced that Moon was detained on charges of engaging in important duties related to insurrection and abuse of authority obstructing the exercise of rights.

The Central Military Court conducted a pre-arrest suspect interrogation (warrant review) for Commander Moon and issued an arrest warrant citing concerns over evidence tampering and flight risk.

Lieutenant General Moon Sang-ho, Commander of the Republic of Korea Army Intelligence Command, is responding to questions regarding the dispatch of personnel to the Election Commission during the National Defense Committee plenary session at the National Assembly on the morning of the 10th. Photo by Yonhap News.

Commander Moon is suspected of ordering the deployment of troops to the NEC headquarters located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, following President Yoon Seok-yeol's declaration of martial law on the 3rd. He is also suspected of deploying the Defense Intelligence Command's North Korean infiltration unit (HID) as an emergency arrest squad for members of the National Assembly.

Moon is one of the figures suspected of having prior knowledge of and conspiring the martial law declaration. Evidence emerged that at 10:31 PM, two minutes after the martial law was declared, intelligence troops arrived at the NEC and took photographs of the computer system, raising the possibility that Moon was aware of the martial law in advance.

There are also allegations that two colonels from the Defense Intelligence Command met with former Commander Noh Sang-won at a hamburger fast-food restaurant in Gyeonggi Province on the 1st, two days before the martial law, to premeditate the martial law. The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division believes that at this meeting, former Commander Noh and Commander Moon ordered the securing of the NEC servers on the day of the martial law.