{"id":1507423,"date":"2024-12-11T23:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T04:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1507423"},"modified":"2024-12-11T23:50:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T04:50:00","slug":"south-koreas-top-cops-arrested-ex-defense-chief-tries-suicide-as-failed-martial-law-bid-rocks-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/south-koreas-top-cops-arrested-ex-defense-chief-tries-suicide-as-failed-martial-law-bid-rocks-country\/1507423\/","title":{"rendered":"South Korea’s Top Cops Arrested, Ex-Defense Chief Tries Suicide As Failed Martial Law Bid Rocks Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Korea’s Top Cops Arrested, Ex-Defense Chief Tries Suicide As Failed Martial Law Bid Rocks Country<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

South Korea continues to be rocked by aftershocks in the wake of President\u00a0Yoon Suk Yeol’s\u00a0aborted declaration of marital law. In a trio of jarring new developments, the country’s top two law enforcement officers have been arrested, the former defense chief attempted suicide in detention, and police raided the president’s office — <\/strong>all while\u00a0a second impeachment vote looms this weekend with greater prospects for success.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Late on Tuesday, police arrested South Korea’s<\/strong>\u00a0former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun<\/strong>, who resigned on Thursday after a warrant was issued for his arrest\u00a0for his alleged role in aiding Yoon’s martial law attempt.\u00a0He then tried killing himself shortly after midnight\u00a0<\/strong>in a detention center bathroom.\u00a0His attempt was thwarted by a “control room staff member,”<\/a> according to a report from the commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, and he’s said to be under close monitoring and in good health.<\/p>\n

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (left) with then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun — who resigned Thursday, was arrested Tuesday, and attempted suicide Wednesday<\/strong> (Yonhap\/DPA<\/em><\/a>)<\/a><\/p>\n

The first to be arrested over the constitutional crisis,\u00a0Kim faces charges of\u00a0\u201cengaging in critical duties during an insurrection\u201d<\/a> and \u201cabuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.\u201d\u00a0A guilty verdict on the insurrection charge would expose Kim to a maximum penalty of death by hanging<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong>While his method of suicide-attempt hasn’t been disclosed, it seems Kim wanted to skip the proceedings and administer his own form of justice.<\/p>\n

Wednesday also brought word that South Korea’s two senior-most law enforcement officers have been arrested on insurrection charges. <\/strong>National Police Commissioner Cho Ji-ho\u00a0<\/strong>and Seoul metropolitan police chief Kim Bong-sik are behind bars at Seoul\u2019s Namdaemun police station, according to the South China Morning Post<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

South Korean soldiers are stationed outside the Parliament. Unbelievable to see how a democracy descends into a chaos and tyranny so fastpic.twitter.com\/IZkRK6mxJe<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/QBmQl1OaFv<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Guy Elster (@guyelster) December 3, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

The two top cops are in hot water for deploying police to impede lawmakers<\/strong> who were trying to make their way into the parliament building to counteract Yoon’s martial law declaration. Then-Defense Minister Kim deployed soldiers to the same location<\/strong>.\u00a0On Tuesday, Kim issued a statement<\/a> taking responsibility for his actions and seeking to shield subordinates from consequences for their actions:<\/p>\n

“All responsibility for this situation lies solely with me. My subordinates were simply faithful in following my orders <\/strong>and the missions that were given to them. I ask for leniency for them.”\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On Monday,\u00a0the Justice Ministry\u00a0banned<\/a> Yoon from traveling\u00a0overseas,<\/strong>\u00a0at the request of\u00a0police, prosecutors, and an anti-corruption agency. As the investigation intensified,\u00a0President Yoon’s office was raided by police on Wednesday,\u00a0<\/strong>as they sought\u00a0evidence relating to his attempted imposition of martial law and the accompanying suspension of civil liberties and governmental checks and balances.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The office search<\/a>, which has been reported by local media but not yet confirmed by police or the president’s office as this is written, flies in the face of\u00a0previous assurances by observers that the presidential security service would thwart any such raid. They’d pointed to a law barring the search of areas that hold state secrets without the consent of those responsible for such spaces.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

After the martial law declaration, police buses blocked the main entrance to the South Korean Parliament\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The rolling crisis began on Dec. 3, when\u00a0Yoon stunned South Korea and the international community with a late-night declaration of martial law, which he claimed was necessary to\u00a0\u201crebuild and protect\u201d the country<\/strong>, and prevent it from \u201cfalling into the depths of national ruin.\u201d\u00a0The move came after an impasse over the country’s 2025 budget, and the attempted impeachment of three top prosecutors.\u00a0In his announcement<\/a>, Yoon railed against\u00a0\u201cshameless pro-North-Korean anti-state forces who are plundering the freedom and happiness of our citizens<\/strong>…I will eliminate anti-state forces as quickly as possible and normalize the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

watching the citizens of South Korea revolt against martial law is so badass this woman is a legendpic.twitter.com\/TZgUqtrhPt<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Omni \u2615\ufe0f (@InfernoOmni) December 3, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n

As soldiers and police surrounded the National Assembly, the South Korean parliament’s speaker used his YouTube channel to summon legislators. All 190 who heeded the call voted to repeal the martial law declaration.\u00a0Six hours after his shocking announcement, Yoon apologized for the move and retracted it<\/strong>, saying he’d acted out of “desperation.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

An impeachment vote last weekend failed in the face of a boycott by the ruling People Power Party (PPP), but the Democratic Party (DP) has announced it will move for impeachment again on Saturday<\/strong>, and some PPP members are now voicing their support<\/a>. Success requires a two-thirds majority of the 300-member assembly.\u00a0DP leader Lee Jae-myung voiced confidence:\u00a0 “The impeachment train has left the platform. There is going to be no way to stop it,”<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 12\/11\/2024 – 18:50<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/south-koreas-top-cops-arrested-ex-defense-chief-tries-suicide-failed-martial-law-bid<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Korea’s Top Cops Arrested, Ex-Defense Chief Tries Suicide As Failed Martial Law Bid Rocks Country South Korea continues to be rocked by aftershocks in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1507424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1507424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}