Noh Sang-won, the former commander at the Korea Defense Intelligence Command under investigation for his role in President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched imposition of martial law, once ordered the blowing up of his own men with explosives, an Army brigadier general formerly under Noh's command said Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Park Min-woo, who served at the KDIC under Noh, told the National Assembly that Noh used to give orders that "were based on movie screenplays." During Park's time as the deputy chief of the KDIC's Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment, he used to oversee espionage missions against North Korea.
Park's remarks were made in a parliamentary hearing to illustrate Noh's character, not Noh's actual role in the plotting and execution of Yoon's Dec. 3 martial law plan.
"In 2016, I was working on an important mission against North Korea for six months, and Commander Noh instructed me to get rid of the agents after the mission," he told the special parliamentary committee investigating the president for allegedly leading an insurrection. "When I asked how I would do it, he told me to blow them up. The method was to make them wear explosive belts that could be remotely detonated."
"I cursed at him to myself. ... He wasn't an expert in special missions, so all I had to do was return (the agents) safely (without carrying out Noh's orders)," he said.
Park feuded with Noh in August last year, in which Noh supposedly threw objects at him and Park filed for complaint against Noh for assault. Noh then claimed that he had been subject to verbal abuse by Park and filed a complaint against him.
Park, who was relocated to his current post in the II Corps. after the incident, told lawmakers Tuesday that he "would not want to work with Noh."
"I saw his (Noh's) cruel and inhumane side, so seeing those words in his martial law notes didn't surprise me," Park said, referring to the notes found in Noh's home that specified "targets to collect" while the nation was under martial law. These included politicians, religious leaders, judges and other outspoken opponents of Yoon.
Noh is currently detained and under criminal investigation for his role in the alleged insurrection led by Yoon. A long-time friend of the president and his wife, he is believed to have played a crucial part in planning Yoon's martial law plot.
Yoon is currently under criminal investigation for allegedly leading an insurrection and committing abuse of power for the martial law decree and his related orders, as well as on trial to confirm his impeachment.
