Yoon Suk Yeol ordered arrest of ruling, opposition leaders during martial law: deputy intelligence chief

The deputy director of the South Korean spy agency said Friday that President Yoon Suk Yeol had ordered him to arrest prominent political figures including the leaders of both the ruling and multiple opposition parties on Tuesday night following his sudden declaration of martial law.

Hong Jang-won, the first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, told the National Assembly that he had been ordered to take into custody several prominent political figures, revealing the names of 11 of them.

The list includes ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon, main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Chair Rep. Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party of Korea floor leader Park Chan-dae, minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party Chair Rep. Cho Kuk, Democratic Party’s Rep. Jung Chung-rae and Rep. Kim Min-seok, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, former Supreme Court Chief Justice Kim Myeong-soo, former National Election Commission chief Kwon Soon-il, liberal journalist Kim Ou-joon, and left-leaning activist Kim Min-woong.

Hong said Yoon also ordered him to assist the Defense Counterintelligence Command in detaining the aforementioned individuals, according to a media briefing made by Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the main opposition party on Friday afternoon.

Hong said Yoon had told him to: "Take this opportunity to arrest them and get rid of them all."

The testimony made by Hong on Friday backed earlier media reports that the president had planned to arrest all his prominent political rivals. But Hong said he refused to take such orders, to which Yoon reportedly responded by ordering him to be dismissed for insubordination.

Whether or not Yoon had instructed the politicians to be arrested is a matter currently being investigated by the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee.

Contrary to Hong's claims, the NIS chief Cho Tae-yong said that the president had never ordered to have the politicians arrested and did not mentioned dismissing Hong, immediately after Rep. Kim's briefing. Hong was reported to have tendered his resignation earlier Friday.

The president's plans to have these prominent political leaders arrested were reported by media outlets earlier Friday, but both the NIS and the Defense Counterintelligence Command denied them, with the commander of the latter saying he was never ordered by Yoon to arrest or detain the politicians.

The presidential office itself told reporters at around 1:30 p.m. that Yoon had not ordered any lawmaker to be arrested, but the office then told them to disregard this statement just minutes after the announcement was made for unspecified reasons.

South Korea's Martial Law Act states in Article 13 that lawmakers have immunity against being arrested or detained, except in cases where they are caught in a criminal act.