Ministry of Economy and Finance and Financial Authorities: "Martial Law Decision Was Wrong"…Economic Departments Criticize in Unison

Officials from economic ministries have unanimously criticized President Yoon Seok-yeol's declaration of martial law on December 3 as a wrong decision.

Acting Governor Choi Sang-mok, Macroeconomic and Financial Issues Meeting. From the left, Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service; Lee Chang-yong, Governor of the Bank of Korea; Acting Governor Choi; Kim Byung-hwan, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission. Photo by Yonhap News.

Lee Bok-hyun, Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service, appeared before the National Assembly's Special Committee on the Investigation of the Truth Behind the Martial Law Declaration by Yoon Seok-yeol on the 15th and responded to Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byung-duk's question, "Was the martial law declaration wrong?" by saying, "I think it was wrong."

Kim Byung-hwan, Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, also answered "I think it was wrong" to the same question.

Since they appeared as institutional witnesses at the National Assembly's special investigation committee held on the day President Yoon was arrested on charges such as leading a rebellion, their statements have drawn even more attention.

Choi Sang-mok, Acting Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance, submitted a letter of absence.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance stated through a report by Kim Jin-myung, Director General of Planning and Coordination, that "the martial law declaration was a wrong decision in light of the Constitution and laws," adding, "At the time, Acting Prime Minister Choi expressed opposition and was the first to leave the meeting room, and he also refused to sign the attendance sheet." They further explained, "(Acting Prime Minister Choi) received a notice of a meeting convened at dawn the next day without a specified purpose but judged it as a meeting under martial law and did not attend," and "He decided to ignore the note regarding securing contingency funds delivered from the Presidential Office and submitted it to investigative authorities."

Meanwhile, regarding opposition party suspicions that the execution plan of the directive document handed by President Yoon was discussed at the 'Macroeconomic and Financial Issues Meeting' (commonly known as the F4 meeting) held immediately after the martial law declaration, the position that "this is completely untrue" was reaffirmed.

Governor Lee Bok-hyun said in response to Democratic Party lawmaker Min Byung-duk's question, "If the Deputy Prime Minister had the will to execute (the document), it would have been discussed at the F4 meeting, but rather, the document was not mentioned at all," adding, "We mainly talked about market stabilization." He emphasized, "We prioritized ensuring that financial market instability does not harm the Korean economy or the daily lives of our citizens and made that the core of our work."

Earlier, the Bank of Korea, Financial Services Commission, and Financial Supervisory Service jointly stated in a press reference material distributed on the 8th, "Claims that the note related to martial law was discussed at the F4 meeting are completely untrue."

At the F4 meeting held on the night of the martial law declaration, Acting Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, Bank of Korea Governor Lee Chang-yong, Financial Services Commission Chairman Kim Byung-hwan, and Financial Supervisory Service Governor Lee Bok-hyun attended.