Complaints filed with the police accuse the president and other officials of ‘treason’ for declaring martial law.
South Korean police have opened an investigation into “treason” related to President Yoon Suk-yeol A brief announcement According to reports, martial law this week.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported Thursday that a team from the National Police Agency has been assigned to investigate the president, who has recently been accused of treason against the country. Resigned as Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, along with Army Chief General Park Un-su and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min.
The news agency reported that the four were charged with sedition and other related charges for their roles on the night of “the declaration of martial law on Tuesday and the subsequent evacuation”.
Yonhap said one complaint of treason was filed against the president by a small opposition party and a second by a group of 59 activists.
Citing unspecified threats from “hostile forces” and obstructive political opponents, President Yoon imposed martial law It was delayed for nearly six hours on Tuesday night before reversing course after parliament voted against the move and people took to the streets in protest.
Yoon faces an impeachment vote in parliament on Saturday for declaring martial law.
The government department that investigates corruption among the country’s courts and high-ranking officials is considering launching its own investigations into the incidents, which resulted in armed South Korean troops storming the National Assembly compound in helicopters and smashing windows and doors to gain entry to the building.
In a separate report, Yonhap said a prosecutor at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office imposed a travel ban on Kim, the former South Korean defense minister who resigned early Thursday.
Kim, who suggested the president impose martial law, is being investigated for “treason” over his role in the incident, Yonhap said.
Yonhap reported that the prosecution has barred the accused from leaving the country except for the former defense minister.
Yoon’s office earlier said the president had accepted the defense minister’s resignation and Choi Byung-hyuk, South Korea’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, would be appointed as a former four-star army general.
Lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party plan to ask for a vote in parliament to impeach Yoon on Saturday evening, a party spokesman told reporters.
“The Yun Suk-yeol administration’s declaration of emergency martial law has caused great confusion and fear among our people,” Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Seung-won told the National Assembly.
Yun’s ruling People Power party is divided over the crisis but has said it will oppose impeachment of the president, who has two years left on his five-year term.
The opposition Democratic Party needs at least eight of the 108 People Power Party lawmakers to support the impeachment bill to pass with a two-thirds majority in the 300-seat parliament.
If the impeachment bill passes, South Korea’s Constitutional Court will decide whether to uphold the motion — a process that could take up to 180 days. If Yoon is suspended from office, Prime Minister Han Duk-soo will fill in as leader.
If Yoon resigns or is removed from office, new elections will be held within 60 days.
Western leaders have embraced Yun as a partner in a US-led effort to unite democracies against growing dictatorships in China, Russia and elsewhere.
But he angered South Koreans by branding his critics as “communist totalitarians and anti-powers”.
In November, he pleaded not guilty in response to allegations of influence peddling against him and his wife, and he has taken a hard line against labor unions.
