22 police officers disciplined over alleged involvement in martial law bid

An officer stands guard at the National Police Agency in Seoul in this undated photo. Korea Times file

Twenty-two police officers were slapped with disciplinary measures over their alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid in 2024, police said Monday.

A disciplinary committee under the Prime Minister's Office has decided to dismiss two officers and demote four others, as well as suspend 10 from their duties and hand down pay cuts for six officers, the National Police Agency said in a notice.

The dismissed officers were two senior superintendent generals accused of playing key roles in blocking access to the National Assembly on the night of the martial law bid, when lawmakers voted to lift the decree. A senior superintendent general is the third-highest rank in the Korean police.

Police also demoted Kim Joon-young, a superintendent general — the second-highest rank after the top-ranking commissioner general — by one rank to a senior superintendent, in what is widely considered an unusual move within the police organization.

The measure came four months after a police task force requested disciplinary action against the officers in question in February.