Yoon directly orders to ‘blockade media outlets’ at time of his martial law declaration

President Yoon Suk-yeol closes his eyes as if he is tired at the fourth hearing of his impeachment trial held at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on January 23.

President Yoon Suk-yeol directly ordered then Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min to blockade and cut off the electricity and the water at some media outlets, including the Kyunghyang Shinmun, at the time of Yoon’s declaration of martial law, on December 3 last year, according to a prosecution investigation.

When then Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun reported that the number of cadre-based troops that could be mobilized for the imposition of martial law was “less than about 1,000,” Yoon reportedly said, “That's enough.” Earlier, Yoon claimed that he ordered the deployment of “280” troops.

According to the prosecution's indictment against Yoon, obtained by the Kyunghyang Shinmun on February 3 through the office of Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) lawmaker Kim Yong-min, on December 3 last year, Yoon convened a cabinet meeting to declare emergency martial law and showed a document to former minister Lee Sang-min, who entered his office, which stated, “At midnight, blockade the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the Hankyoreh, MBC, JTBC, and Flower Research, and cut off power and water supply through the National Fire Agency.” At 11:34 p.m., shortly after Yoon issued a decree through General Park An-su, the Chief of Staff of the Army, Lee called Cho Ji-ho, the commissioner general of the National Police Agency, to check on the status of police actions, and then called Heo Seok-gon, the chief of the National Fire Agency, at 11:37 p.m., instructing him, “At midnight, police will be deployed to the Kyunghyang Shinmun, the Hankyoreh, MBC, JTBC, and Flower Research, and if there is a request from the National Police Agency to cut off the electricity and the water, please cooperate and take action.”

Heo relayed Lee's instructions to Lee Young-pal, deputy chief of the National Fire Agency, who called Hwang Ki-seok, head of the Seoul Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Headquarters, and reiterated the request, saying, “If there is a request for cooperation from the National Police Agency regarding the decree, please cooperate.” At 11:50 p.m., Heo called Hwang again to check whether he had received a request for cooperation from the National Police Agency.

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.