Seoul: A parliamentary special committee on Tuesday conducted its first inquiry into the defense ministry and other military commanders allegedly involved in President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law. Late last month, the National Assembly launched a special 18-member committee to look into Yoon's insurrection allegations until Feb. 13.
According to Yonhap News Agency, key witnesses, including Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who served as martial law commander, and Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, were present at the session. However, Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, who is suspected of sending troops to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission, and ordering the arrest of the leaders of the ruling and main opposition parties, did not show up at the meeting.
During the session, lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) mainly clashed over the legitimacy of the martial law declaration. The PPP also criticized the DP's decision to include allegations that Yoon committed "treason" by attempting to deliberately incite foreign aggression in a new special probe bill.
Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers took issue with the mobilization of the military during the martial law imposition. "The military mobilized during martial law was on standby with over 180,000 rounds of ammunition," DP Rep. Min Hong-chul said in his inquiry into Kwak, criticizing it as an attempt to "turn Seoul into a second Gwangju" akin to the 1980 massacre of pro-democracy protests in the southwestern city.