President Yoon ordered us to break into S.Korean parliament, bring out lawmakers: Commander

ANKARA

A key South Korean military commander on Tuesday testified before a special parliamentary committee that he was directly ordered by President Yoon Seok-yeol to “break into parliament,” and “bring out the lawmakers” ahead of the vote against martial law declaration.

Kwak Jong-geun, the army’s special warfare commander, appeared before the National Assembly Defense Committee amid a deepening political crisis fomented by Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3, which subsequently was blocked by the parliament hours later, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

"The president called me directly on a secret phone," and "he said that it seemed like the quorum for the vote had not been reached yet, and told me to quickly break down the door and go in and get the people inside out," Kwak was quoted as saying.

Kwak also told opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Park Beom-gye that he had been informed of martial law two days before it was declared.

Park said that Kwak did not testify to the prosecution that he knew about the martial law in advance.

Meanwhile, when asked by the Financial Times on who was running South Korea, a presidential spokesperson told the UK-based daily: “There is no official answer to that question.”