Choi Sang-mok, the acting president and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance, said he received a note regarding securing contingency funds for the 'national emergency legislative body' after President Yoon Suk-yeol called him on the day of the declaration of martial law on Dec. 3. This contradicts the statement by President Yoon that he learned about the note through media reports.
On the morning of the 6th, Acting Minister Choi appeared as a witness at a hearing of the 'National Assembly Special Committee for the Investigation of Allegations of Rebellion Through the Declaration of Martial Law by the Yoon Suk-yeol Government'.
When Deputy Minister Choi was questioned by Democratic Party lawmaker Choo Mi-ae, asking, 'Did the president tell you to refer to this (the note) when he called you?', he replied, 'He called me the Minister of Strategy and Finance, and someone next to him handed it to me as reference material.' The note is said to contain ▲ securing government contingency funds ▲ complete blockade of the National Assembly budget ▲ budget formulation for the national emergency legislative body.
Acting Minister Choi emphasized that he did not immediately check the note the day martial law was declared. Acting Minister Choi said, 'I received it in note form, so I gave it to an executive to keep, and when the first-grade meeting of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance was about to end, I was reminded to look at it, and I recognized it as a document related to the martial law,' adding, 'Since I decided to ignore the martial law, I left it covered and did not look at it.'
President Yoon denies the existence of the note he handed to Acting Minister Choi. On the 21st of last month, he appeared at the Constitutional Court and said, 'I have never given a note, and I only saw it in a news article long after the martial law was lifted.' During the pre-arrest suspect interrogation (substantive examination of the warrant), he also responded that his memory was hazy regarding the note.
During the hearing, allegations arose that the macroeconomic and financial issues meeting (F4) convened immediately after the announcement of martial law was intended to secure contingency funds. Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Byung-joo pointed out, 'The F4 meeting appears to be a meeting to discuss securing contingency funds.'
In response, Acting Minister Choi stated, 'F4 is a meeting held to take stabilization measures for the financial and foreign exchange markets in the event any emergency situation occurs, and we have been doing it continuously over the last two years,' adding, 'The F4 meeting is a place to discuss safety measures for the financial market, not a place to discuss issues related to finance.'