Seoul Cheongjang Acting Director: "It Is Not Appropriate for Me to Comment on Whether It Is Treason"

Park Hyun-soo, Acting Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, stated on the 18th regarding whether he agrees that the December 3 emergency martial law constitutes treason, “The trial is ongoing to determine if it is treason,” and added, “It is not appropriate for me to comment.”

Yang Bu-nam, Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Yonhap News

Acting Commissioner Park made this remark in response to a question from Yang Bu-nam, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, during the plenary session of the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee on the same day.

Regarding whether the declaration of martial law violated the Constitution and laws, Acting Commissioner Park said, “This martial law was a wrongful measure.”

When asked about whether he had communicated with former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min and Commissioner General of the National Police Agency Cho Ji-ho after the investigation into the martial law began, Acting Commissioner Park stated, “I do not have a clear recollection.”

Earlier, controversy arose when Park Hyun-soo, Director of the Police Bureau at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, was appointed as the Commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on the 7th. Acting Commissioner Park was appointed to key positions such as the Personnel Verification Team of the Presidential Transition Committee and the Office of the President’s National Situation Room under the Yoon Seok-youl administration, as well as Director of the Police Intelligence Bureau at the National Police Agency and Director of the Police Bureau at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. It was revealed that Acting Commissioner Park had multiple phone calls with Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho, former Minister Lee Sang-min, and Director of the Police Security Bureau Im Jeong-ju immediately after the declaration of martial law.