Acting President Choi Sang-mok said Thursday he received a note from President Yoon Suk Yeol during a Cabinet meeting just before the enactment of martial law in the evening of Dec. 3, 2024, but that he ignored it.
Appearing as a witness at a National Assembly hearing for the first time, Choi said he was handed the note, which was folded in half, by an official after Yoon summoned him just before martial law was declared.
Choi said it was hours later at around 1:50 a.m. on Dec. 4 that he read the note and saw that it detailed Yoon's martial law plans. Choi said he decided to ignore it.
"Everything that was unfolding at the time was surreal to me. I didn't get the chance to read the note immediately," the acting president said. "I decided to ignore it when I realized it was about martial law."
When asked by Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Byung-joo why he did not immediately read the note, Choi said it appeared to be an informal note rather than an official memo.
What Choi said at Thursday's hearing contradicts earlier claims by Yoon that he was not aware of the note.
Yoon said at his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on Jan. 21 that he "had never handed any note" to anyone, and that he found out about the presence of such a note only from media reports.
Kim Yong-hyun, who stepped down as defense minister in the aftermath of the martial law debacle, said at the same trial that he was the one who wrote the note and had it delivered to Choi, who arrived at the Cabinet meeting later.
The note is said to have contained instructions for shutting down the National Assembly and setting up an emergency budget for forming an interim legislature, among other actions.
Choi also denied having spoken with first lady Kim Keon Hee before or after the martial law declaration.
Speaking at Thursday's hearing, Han Duck-soo, the suspended prime minister, said all those who were present at the Cabinet meeting on the night of martial law had opposed, if not heavily protested, Yoon's plan.
Han also said the meeting that took place before the martial law declaration did not follow the format of a typical Cabinet meeting, and that he would not consider it to qualify as one.
Choi, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, was appointed acting president on Dec. 27 following the Democratic Party-led motion impeaching Han as both acting president and prime minister.
arin@heraldcorp.com
