Special Warfare Commander says no more martial law, vows to refuse such order

Kwak Jong-geun, the Special Warfare Commander who led special forces into the Assembly on Tuesday evening, said Friday that there would be no additional martial law and that he will refuse any such orders in the future.

Speaking at a YouTube live show hosted by Democratic Party lawmakers Park Sun-won and Kim Byung-joo, members of the National Assembly's National Defense Committee, Kwak said he received orders from Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to drag lawmakers out of the Assembly, 20 minutes before President Yoon Suk Yeol declared an emergency martial law on Tuesday night.

"About 20 minutes before the media reported the emergency martial law declaration, I received instructions from Minister Kim Yong-hyun and only understood that there might be a situation. I first became aware of the emergency martial law situation through the media reports," he said.

He said he didn't follow the order, knowing that it was clearly illegal.

"I judged that forcibly removing lawmakers from the National Assembly was clearly illegal, and while I knew it could be considered insubordination, I did not carry out the mission."

When asked about the directives he issued during the deployment of the unit, he said, "There were unjust circumstances during the deployment, so I first instructed that no live ammunition be given to individual personnel under any circumstances."

He also said he was contacted by President Yoon Suk Yeol on his way to the National Assembly, asking about the location of the 707 Special Mission unit.

He said he was told to control the National Assembly, guard the National Election Commission, and monitor the "News Factory," an independent broadcast.

He said it would have been right to refuse the minister's orders at the time.

"If I were to face such orders again, I would reject them outright."

"I apologize to the public. I feel deeply sorry for the special forces troops who were deployed on the operation."