Former President Yoon Suk-yeol is said to have told Cabinet members gathered at the presidential office just before declaring martial law on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, "Even my wife (First Lady Kim Keon-hee) doesn't know. If I go home today, my wife will probably be very angry."
ChosunBiz obtained the first-trial ruling in the case against former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on charges of engaging in important duties related to insurrection, and it includes this statement by former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min.
The former Minister explained in detail why the former president decided to declare martial law. When former Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yul opposed it, saying, "The impact on diplomatic relations is too great. What we have built over 70 years will be reduced to nothing," the former president said, "I know there will be effects on diplomacy and the economy. It's not that I haven't thought about it."
Yoon then said, "This is not a snap decision. I have thought about it for a long time. It won't last long," adding, "They are cutting the budget, and above all, because of the impeachment, it's absolutely untenable. In particular, impeaching the chair of the Board of Audit and Inspection and the central district prosecutor is unthinkable. No one knows about this. Jeong Jin-seok (then presidential chief of staff) doesn't know, and neither do the senior secretaries." After that came the remark, "Even my wife doesn't know."
Former Minister Cho also testified that the former president said, "Even my wife doesn't know."
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement Division 33 (Presiding Judge Lee Jin-gwan) ruled on the 21st in the first-trial sentencing hearing for the former prime minister that the Dec. 3 martial law constituted insurrection. The court found there was a purpose to disrupt the constitutional order, and that the occupation or control of the National Assembly and the National Election Commission by military and police forces constituted a riot, falling under the crime of insurrection as defined by Article 87 of the Criminal Act.
In determining whether the Dec. 3 martial law constituted a riot, the court referred to former Unified Progressive Party lawmaker Lee Seok-ki's insurrection incitement case and former Korean Central Intelligence Agency Director Kim Jae-gyu's murder with intent to commit insurrection case.
First, citing the Supreme Court ruling in the case of former KCIA Director Kim Jae-gyu, it said, "A riot as defined in Article 87 of the Criminal Act refers to multiple persons joining together to commit violence or intimidation."
Next, citing the Supreme Court ruling in the case of former lawmaker Lee Seok-ki's incitement to insurrection, it said, "Here, violence or intimidation means violence or intimidation in the broadest sense, referring to any exercise of physical force or a notice of harm that causes fear," adding, "It is a concept that comprehensively captures acts that prepare for or assist it." It continued, "The degree must be such that it has the power to disturb the peace of a region."