After the Dec. 3 lifting of martial law, Kang Eui-gu, former Presidential Secretariat Deputy Minister, who was brought to trial on charges of creating a postdated martial law proclamation, was sentenced to prison in the first trial and was taken into custody in court. The court found that Kang, who was the Presidential Secretariat Deputy Minister, created a false document to cover up a procedural defect in the martial law proclamation that he knew about.
The Criminal Agreement Division 30 of the Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Park Ok-hee, Director General) on the 28th sentenced former Deputy Minister Kang to one year and six months in prison on charges including falsifying official documents. Kang pleaded that there was absolutely no intention to destroy evidence or flee, but the court issued a detention warrant along with the prison sentence.
The court weighed heavily the fact that former Deputy Minister Kang was a senior civil servant who closely assisted the president. The court said, As the Presidential Secretariat Deputy Minister, a Grade-1 senior civil servant who closely assists the president, the defendant must properly assist the president in performing duties, and added, Nevertheless, recognizing the procedural defect that the proclamation of martial law was not made as a document bearing a countersignature, he drafted a false official document to conceal it.
It went on, Even though there was no prior instruction from former President Yoon, he handled key acts of executing the crime, such as preparing the format of the cover page of the postdated martial law proclamation and obtaining signatures, and pointed out, Given his position and the circumstances and content of the crime, the culpability is heavy.
However, the court considered in his favor that former Deputy Minister Kang largely acknowledged the basic facts of the crime. It also considered that it is hard to see that there was an active intent to submit the postdated martial law proclamation to impeachment review or investigative procedures, and that during a prosecutorial witness interview he volunteered related details even when not asked.
Former Deputy Minister Kang was indicted on charges of drafting a false martial law proclamation to make it appear that martial law had been declared under a document countersigned in advance by former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and former Ministry of National Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and signed by former President Yoon Suk-yeol on Dec. 6, 2024, after the lifting of martial law. Countersignature refers to the prime minister or a relevant cabinet minister signing together on a presidential document to satisfy procedural formality.
In the document at issue, signatures were made in the order of former Prime Minister Han, former Minister Kim, and former President Yoon, and it was found thereafter to have been kept in former Deputy Minister Kang's office. When the rebellion investigation gained momentum, former Deputy Minister Kang also faced a charge that, after hearing from former Prime Minister Han, If it becomes known that the document was created after the fact, it could spark another controversy, so let's treat my signature as if it never happened, he shredded the document.