 |
|
Former Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin on his way to his trial at Seoul Central District Court on Aug. 20 for charges related to mobilizing the military’s Cyber Command to influence public opinion on political affairs. (joint photo pool)
|
Investigators obtain testimony from connected individual
In Oct. 2016, former Blue House National Security Chief Kim Kwan-jin ordered a military official assigned to the National Security Office to review a martial law decree, a source says. Investigators are looking into the possibility of a connection between Kim’s orders and documents about a martial law decree that were produced by the Defense Security Command (DSC). “We have obtained testimony from a connected individual that Kim Kwan-jin ordered a review of a martial law decree and asked to be briefed on questions including whether there’s a way to maintain martial law if the National Assembly moves to end it and whether the army chief of staff can be appointed as the martial law commander,” a member of the joint team of investigators from the military and the prosecutors that are currently investigating the DSC’s martial law documents told the Hankyoreh on Sept. 14. This source confirmed that the military official in the National Security Office (NSO) wrote a report reviewing the martial law decree on Kim’s orders and briefed Kim about it. This is the first confirmation that a senior official in the Blue House under former president Park Geun-hye ordered a review of a martial law decree and was briefed about it. The joint team of investigators is focusing on the fact that the questions Kim wanted reviewed – about ways to neutralize a National Assembly vote to end martial law and about appointing the army chief of staff as the martial law commander – were also reviewed in the DSC’s martial law documents. Investigators think that there may be a connection between Kim’s orders and these documents. Officials with the NSO at the time reportedly claim to have reviewed the possibility of a martial law decree proclamation in preparation for a sudden upheaval in North Korea as a “hope plan” on Kim’s orders. “It wasn’t confirmed whether Mr. Kim’s orders were passed along to then-Minister of National Defense Han Min-koo or DSC commander Cho Hyun-chun,” a joint investigation team member said. “Not only was the timing before the candlelight demonstrations really started, but it’s also four months away from when the DSC examined a martial law decree in Feb. 2017, so it’s too early to reach any conclusions,” the team member continued, adding that it was “an area requiring additional investigation.” NSO document reviewed ways of delaying National Assembly voting The Blue House National Security Office and DSC documents reportedly differed in content. Whereas the DSC document referred to illegal acts such as arresting National Assembly members in flagrante delicto as a way of neutralizing the parliament, the NSO document was reported as outlining plans to delay National Assembly voting within a legal framework. “Though there are some differences in content between the two documents, we need to examine the relationship between them, since they might have been developed further by the DSC later on,” a joint investigation team member said. The team plans to summon Kim Kwan-jin for questioning after additional investigation. He is currently booked as a suspect alongside then Defense Minister Han Min-koo and former Army Chief of Staff Jang Jun-kyu. By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
