South Korea’s jailed ex-defense minister stopped in suicide attempt after martial law order, official says

Seoul, South Korea — South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law declaration, officials said Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party is pushing for a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades. Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to submit the new motion on Thursday to set up another vote this Saturday.

Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea‘s state media for the first time reported about the turmoil across the border, but the country hasn’t shown any suspicious activities.

Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers that former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun tried to kill himself the previous night at a detention center in Seoul. He said correctional officers stopped him and that he was in stable condition. Kim was arrested by prosecutors early Wednesday on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. He became the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree.

Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec. 4.

Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing significant anxiety” to the public. He said all responsibility for the martial law imposition rests with him and pleaded for leniency for soldiers deployed to enforce it.

Prosecutors have up to 20 days to determine whether to indict Kim.

Later Wednesday, police detained National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, head of Seoul’s metropolitan police. They were accused of deploying police forces to parliament to block lawmakers from voting.

The focus of the investigation is determining whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in imposing martial law committed the act of rebellion. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death in South Korea.

South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office Wednesday to look for any evidence related to the martial law introduction. But investigators had failed to enter the office as of Wednesday evening, about six hours after their arrival, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told the parliament. Some observers earlier said the presidential security service was unlikely to permit any searches of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites with state secrets without approval from those in charge of the areas in question.

Yoon on Saturday apologized over the martial law decree, saying he wouldn’t avoid legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”

The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange the president’s stable exit from office, saying the party would coordinate with Cabinet members over state affairs and that Yoon would be sidelined from duties. The comments were criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional, and caused widespread questions about who is in charge of South Korea and its military at a time of heightened tension with North Korea. The Justice Ministry on Tuesday banned Yoon from leaving the country as he faces investigations.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho reiterated Wednesday that Yoon remains in charge of the military. But Yoon hasn’t been involved in any major official activities since lifting martial law, except for accepting resignation offers by officials involved in the martial law case and appointing the head for the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

A Wednesday article from the North’s state news agency reported about the South Korean political chaos and protests triggered by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mostly attempted to explain the South Korean events, though it called Yoon “a traitor” and his military “gangsters.”

Many experts say North Korea is sensitive to the domestic spread of news on major anti-government protests in foreign countries, because its own people have no official access to international news and could be affected by such events. The U.S. State Department said Monday that the U.S.-South Korean alliance remains “iron-clad” and that Washington is committed to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.

In his martial law announcement, the conservative Yoon stressed a need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces,” a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has had near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which introduced motions to impeach some of his top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.

Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergency situations, but South Korea wasn’t in such a predicament. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the constitution doesn’t allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.

If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he is dismissed from office, a new presidential election would be required.