Park Administration Martial Law Plan Under Investigation

Channel A Top Ten news graphic shows plan for dispatch of brigade level forces to major government institutions and Kanghwamoon on Seoul, Korea map. Among the government building locations are the Blue House, the Constitutional Court, the National Defense Ministry, the National Administration, and the National Assembly.

The Korean media have been reporting for several days about the plan for martial law hatched by the prior administration during the massive candlelight demonstrations in Seoul and the pending impeachment of Park Geun Hye from the fall of 2016 through the spring of 2017. There were plans for military occupation of the capital, Seoul, at Kanghwamoon, the site of the demonstrations in the heart of Seoul, and at Yoido, the location of the National Assembly. Brigade level armored forces were included in the plans, with tanks, armored personnel carriers and special forces to be deployed within the capital. The total number of troops would have been in the thousands. In addition there were specific directions for prevention of a quorum from being formed for decision making in the National Assembly, and investigating and detaining assembly members who participated in "anti-government" demonstrations. There were also comprehensive detailed plans for imposing censorship on a broad range South Korean media and blocking SNS and social media. The planning document for a martial law declaration was sixty seven pages long. A special investigative team has been formed to investigate the actions of the National Security Command, the military officials who may have been involved, and the roles of former prime minister at the time, Hwang Kyo Ahn, and the former President Park Geun Hye. According to Arirang News, the Ministry of Defense appointed the Special Investigative Team.

The Minju Dang (democracy party) is calling for the disbanding of the National Security Command within the Ministry of Defense. The Democracy and Peace Party, and the Justice Party are also calling the plan to impose martial law outrageous and unacceptable. The Korea Freedom Party (conservative) calls the current investigation a politically motivated trick. The other conservative opposition party, Barun Mirae Dang, calls the investigation a scheme to bolster the falling support for President Moon in a time of economic challenges for the ruling party. The latter two parties are the offspring of the Saenuri party that formed the Park government.

The document detailing the plan for martial law and potentially, a coup d'etat, was released by the Blue House. A Channel A Top Ten news report today indicates that the plan, in its own language, provided for a declaration of martial law to support "constitutional order," and that the plan was formulated to examine a martial law plan in the event that the impeachment process against former President Park was dismissed. Today, President Moon visited the National Intelligence Service, and praised the intelligence agency for its leadership role in bringing about a safe Olympics, and the historic subsequent summits at Panmunjeom and Singapore with North Korea.

Part of the massive candlelight demonstrations at Kanghwamoon, in Seoul, Korea, date unspecified. On some weekends, the peaceful assemblies were estimated to exceed one million people.