Kim Daewoo: "I Thought the Police Would Conduct the Investigation If Dispatched"
At the time of the 12·3 Martial Law Declaration, the chief of the Counterintelligence Command Investigation Unit testified that, under the orders of former Counterintelligence Commander Yeo Inhyeong, he wrote down a list of 14 individuals to be taken into custody, but did not order his subordinates to arrest them.
On June 5, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 25 (Presiding Judge Ji Guyoun) held a trial for police leadership, including Commissioner General Cho Jiho and former Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Chief Kim Bongsik, who have been charged with participating in a rebellion. During this session, Daewoo Kim, former chief of the Counterintelligence Investigation Unit (Brigadier General), was questioned as a witness.
Kim testified that around midnight on December 3 of last year, when martial law was declared, he was the person who, following Commander Yeo’s orders, instructed Counterintelligence Command officers to deploy to the National Assembly. He stated that at approximately 10:45 p.m. that same night, immediately after the declaration, he heard from Commander Yeo in the situation room that “100 personnel from the (Ministry of National Defense) Investigation Headquarters and 100 police investigators had been requested in advance.”
He also stated that, under Commander Yeo’s orders, he wrote down a list of 14 people, including Jaemyung Lee and Donghoon Han. Kim said that when he asked about the charges, Commander Yeo replied, “I don’t know the charges.”
When the prosecution asked whether Commander Yeo had used the term “arrest,” Kim responded, “He told me to apprehend and transfer them, and I understood it as an order to arrest and transfer. I took that list as being those subject to martial law.” When asked who he thought would carry out the arrests, he replied, “I thought that if the police investigation team was dispatched, those personnel would conduct the investigation.”
On the same day, the court also questioned Master Sergeant Kim, who at the time worked as an investigation management officer in the Investigation Headquarters Situation Room of the Ministry of National Defense. Master Sergeant Kim testified about the circumstances in which he was asked by the Counterintelligence Command to provide 100 investigators and subsequently compiled a list of investigation headquarters personnel.
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