Lee Min-hyung joined The Korea Times in 2014 and has worked as a journalist mainly in Korea’s finance, tech and automotive industry. He specializes in content creation, breaking news and in-depth analysis currently on transportation and mobility. You can reach him via mhlee@koreatimes.co.kr.
2 ex-defense ministers under coup probe
By Lee Min-hyung
Former Defense Ministers Kim Kwan-jin and Han Min-koo
By Lee Min-hyung
Two former defense chiefs are being questioned over their involvement in an alleged plot to impose martial law nationwide last year.
The prosecution summoned former Defense Ministers Han Min-koo and Kim Kwan-jin, Thursday, to look into whether they had exerted their influence on a controversial military document specifying the plan to quell candlelit protestors who called for the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye, in the event she was not impeached.
Both of them denied the allegation, saying that they “have had nothing to do” with the plot and the document drawn up by the now-disbanded Defense Security Command (DSC).
“I explained in detail that I have no connection to such an allegation,” Kim told reporters Thursday night after hours-long questioning. Han also denied the allegation.
The investigation into the affair is expected to take longer though, as the whereabouts of then-DSC chief Cho Hyun-chun remain unknown.
Cho, who is staying somewhere in the United States, is suspected of having ordered his staff in February last year to draw up the 67-page-long contingency plan to declare martial law.
A military-civilian joint investigation team has urged Cho to return home for questioning through his legal representatives here. But Cho, who flew to the U.S. in December last year, has not complied with any of the requests from the team.
This month it sought cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have Cho's passport invalidated, and also requested support from the International Police Cooperation Agency (Interpol) to locate him.
Investigators searched an empty home belonging to Cho in August to secure evidence of his alleged connection to the plot. His family members are also known to be in the U.S.
The scandal generated a public uproar, leading President Moon Jae-in to order the disbanding of the DSC, and for the defense ministry to create a new military intelligence unit, the Defense Security Support Command, which was launched last month.