Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun proposes martial law as a 'difficult path to justice'

[News FM Lee Ik-seon Choi Soo-young Issue & People]
□ Broadcast Date: Thursday, December 5, 2024
□ Host: Lee Ik-seon, Choi Soo-young
□ Cast: Announcer Lee Hyun-woong

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information.

Profit Line: Open the second part with <Aung Daung News>. Announcer Lee Hyunwoong, who will be with us today as well, is here. Hello~

◆ Hello!

◇ Lee Ik-seon: First news. Today, the National Assembly's Defense Committee is conducting an urgent question about martial law, and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is known to have proposed martial law, has not come out?

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: Yes. The briefing was held at the presidential office at around 8:30 a.m. today. President Yoon Suk Yeol accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and said he would be dismissed.

Former Minister Kim reportedly expressed his intention to attend, but his attendance was canceled due to the acceptance of his resignation. Instead, Vice Defense Minister Kim Sun-ho attended as acting minister.

Former Minister Kim reportedly ordered various military officials who demanded attendance by the National Defense Commission not to attend, saying, "Only me and martial law commander Park An-soo need to go, keep your seat."

On the other hand, Woo Jong-soo, head of the National Investigation Headquarters, who appeared a little while ago in an urgent question by the National Assembly's executive and security committee, said, "I ordered Kim to take urgent necessary measures as soon as possible."

◇ Choi Soo-young: In the midst of this, has former Minister Kim Yong-hyun expressed his position to several media companies?

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: Yes, according to Yonhap News, former Minister Kim expressed his position that 'the road of justice is tougher than the road of complacent injustice' immediately after the announcement of his resignation. This seems to be a quote from one of the KMA cadets. It is interpreted that the proposed emergency martial law was the path of justice.

On the other hand, when asked by KBS if there was anything he wanted to say while stepping down as a minister today, he reportedly answered with a message saying, "It was only the one thought of saving the country, protecting the free Republic of Korea."

When asked if he had anything to add, he said, "There is no future for a free Korea without organizing anti-state forces, including pro-North Korean juche groups, who are hiding in various parts of our society. Moreover, the first budget cuts and paralysis of the administrative and judicial systems due to the Democratic Party's super-legal legislative dictatorship are at the level of civil war that crosses the line. It was the president's idea that emergency measures were needed to overcome this."

It is evaluated that it is similar to the full text of President Yoon's emergency statement, which generally includes declaring martial law.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: It's the scene where a lot of people were shocked, the former martial law commander, the army chief Park An-soo said it wasn't his direction?

◆ [Lee Hyun-woong] That's right. Asked when the emergency martial law was in place, President Park replied, "I knew from the president's statement." After that, he suddenly moved to the command and control room, and he said he clearly recognized it at the subsequent meeting of commanders in the entire army.

He also replied that he did not know about the martial law army's invasion of the National Assembly and the armament. When Ahn Kyu-baek, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, asked, "Does that make sense?" he answered again that he did not recognize it because he did not order or control it.

Then, when the question was asked what the martial law history did, he said he remembered that he focused his efforts to form a martial law situation room. They said they discussed organizing and so on.

On the other hand, the Democratic Party of Korea said that it was also not true that the martial law army planned to arrest National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik, Lee Jae-myung, and representative Han Dong-hoon, and that there was no such plan.

◇ Choi Soo-young: Vice Minister of National Defense Kim Sun-ho also said that he understood that the Ministry of National Defense did not write the martial law military decree?

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: Yes. First of all, Vice Minister Kim also said he did not know about the declaration of an emergency martial law in advance, and he knew through media reports. If all of these are true, there is an analysis that the last declaration of emergency martial law was carried out by a very small number of people.

Vice Minister Kim replied to a question about the martial law army's decree No. 1, saying, "The author cannot be confirmed, and I understand that it was not written by the Ministry of National Defense."

He also expressed his position that it was the order of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun that troops were sent to the National Assembly and that he was negative about mobilizing troops.

He also said that while in the position of deputy defense minister, he failed to confirm a series of actions in advance and failed to prevent them from proceeding, and that he would feel responsible and take responsibility for them.

◇ Lee Ik-seon: This time, let's look at various reactions to martial law. First of all, is there a setback in the planned schedule in terms of diplomacy?

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: Yes. First of all, the South Korea-Kazakhstan Defense Ministers' Meeting scheduled for today was canceled as former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's resignation was accepted. It is reported that Kazakhstan has decided not to visit Korea. The Embassy in China also canceled Ambassador Jeong Jae-ho's resignation ceremony, which was scheduled for the 10th.

In addition, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba was coordinating his visit to Korea in January to mark the 60th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic relations between Korea and Japan next year. It is reported that this has also decided to review the plan itself. In addition, former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who was scheduled to visit for two days from the 15th, also canceled his visit to Korea.

Meanwhile, the schedule for our diplomatic authorities to visit and attend is also disrupted. Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yeol canceled his future schedule, including the 2024 World New Security Forum scheduled to attend today, and was waiting for an emergency, while Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun, who was on a trip to Germany and Spain, also postponed his schedule and returned home early. Unification Minister Kim Young-ho is also minimizing his external schedule by canceling a media interview scheduled for tomorrow.

Looking at this, a diplomatic source expressed concern, saying that while the world is scrambling to launch the second Trump term, we are only looking at domestic politics.

◇ Choi Soo-young: On the other hand, there was a case in Thailand where they refused to exchange won?

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: Yes, if you look at the posts and photos posted by the writer who is traveling to Thailand on the online community, it says in English and Thai that 'temporarily do not accept Korean won due to domestic political problems'. Since the declaration of martial law, a notice has been posted saying that currency exchange is not possible beyond the depreciation of the won.

Of course, it is unclear whether it can be seen as the influence of martial law because it has a clue that it is a "domestic political issue," but the writer wrote that it cannot be moved on to a simple happening just because it was lifted quickly. He added that it's not like that in Thailand as a whole, and people who are planning to travel can exchange money well elsewhere, so you don't have to worry too much.

In fact, since the declaration of martial law, countries around the world have designated Korea as a travel risk country or issued travel advisories. Whether it will affect the actual number of tourists should be checked for statistics to come, but air and travel-related stocks do not seem to be out of weakness in today's stock market.

◇ Profit line: Whether you know what domestic investors are thinking, the New York stock market has hit a new all-time high again, so how is our stock market today?

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: The fall has decreased compared to yesterday. In addition, both markets turned upward in the morning. However, attention is being paid to how foreign investors who escaped yesterday will come out today.

In fact, the Yoon Suk Yeol government has implemented a stock market value-up policy to resolve the so-called "Korea Discount." When the stock market opened for the first time on January 2 this year, he was the first incumbent president to attend the opening ceremony and show his will.

As such, there are evaluations at home and abroad that the hard-working tower, which has been built little by little throughout this year, is collapsing due to six hours of martial law. Analysts say this could lead to greater uncertainty surrounding the Korean economy and strengthen the "Korea Discount."

◇ Lee Ik-seon: We've looked at all the news prepared today.

◆ Lee Hyun-woong: Yes, thank you.