This photo from Dec. 4, 2024, shows a police bus departing from the National Assembly in Seoul hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law. Yonhap
Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted the head of the National Police Agency and the former chief of the Seoul police over their alleged roles during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law, officials said.
Cho Ji-ho, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, and Kim Bong-sik, former chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were indicted under detention on charges of engaging in essential activities for an insurrection and abuse of power.
The indictments came after the two officials were arrested last month as part of an investigation into Yoon’s botched declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.
Cho is accused of ordering police to prevent lawmakers from entering the National Assembly during martial law and alleged involvement in the military’s attempt to arrest key politicians.
The two officials allegedly met Yoon hours before his martial law declaration at the presidential safe house in central Seoul, according to the special prosecution team handling the case.
During the meeting, Yoon told the officials that he plans to declare martial law and instructed them to send police personnel to the National Assembly and control the situation, the prosecutors said.
Cho and Kim also allegedly received a document from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun that detailed plans under martial law, such as where and when martial law troops would be deployed.
When Yoon declared martial law, Kim allegedly ordered police to completely block entry into the National Assembly.
He temporarily allowed lawmakers to enter the compound after undergoing legal review with his staff but later sealed off entry, citing the martial law decree that banned all political activity, according to the prosecutors. (Yonhap)