Sending Martial Law Decree via Text Constitutes Complicity in Major Insurrection? Dissatisfaction Grows in Military [News Analysis]

Former Navy Chief of Staff Kang Dong-gil, former Ground Operations Commander Joo Sung-woon, former Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Director of Operations Lee Seung-oh, and former JCS Director of Operations Planning Ahn Chan-myung were dismissed from the military over suspicions of involvement in the December 3 martial law, but were cleared of all charges by the second comprehensive special counsel team. It is truly regrettable that high-ranking generals, who lived believing solely in their devotion to the nation, were unjustly cast out of the military due to hasty suspicions raised by the special counsel and the Ministry of National Defense.

Word has it that the comprehensive special counsel team, having failed to pin down high-ranking generals, is now targeting an unexpected officer: Colonel A, who served as the public affairs chief for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It appears he is facing charges of complicity in a major insurrection on the grounds that he ordered the martial law decree to be text-messaged to Ministry of National Defense reporters and others under the instructions of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former Martial Law Commander Park An-su.

The half-joking, half-serious remark circulating among ruling party politicians that "even brushing against martial law means death" must have been true. Sending the decree via text message to reporters is deemed complicity in a major insurrection... If that is the case, reporters who published the decree on TV, newspapers, and the internet to inform citizens would surely face charges akin to aiding an insurrection. Witnessing Colonel A's plight, journalists as well as military personnel share a heavy heart.

When North Korea provokes or an urgent military situation arises, the JCS Public Affairs Office immediately sends text messages to reporters covering the Ministry of National Defense. When North Korea fired a missile at dawn yesterday (the 12th), the JCS Public Affairs Office similarly sent breaking news text messages regarding the missile launch to reporters. The office also transmitted the same text messages to officials in several diplomatic and security ministries. Reporters wrote their articles based on these text messages from the JCS, which is why many citizens were able to read news articles about the North Korean missile on internet portals early yesterday morning.

It was much the same during the December 3 martial law. While conducting a live broadcast, this reporter persistently called military personnel between broadcasts to persistently dig into who the martial law commander was and what the contents of the decree were. These were vital facts that needed to be covered and reported to grasp the nature and direction of the martial law. At 11:23 PM, a text message containing the decree arrived from the familiar phone number of the JCS Public Affairs Office. I still vividly remember conducting the live broadcast while holding onto that text message of the decree from the JCS.

Prior to this, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun had appointed former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su as martial law commander and ordered the distribution of the decree to the media. Naturally, the task fell to the JCS Public Affairs Office. The wording of the decree was handed down to Colonel A, who was the JCS public affairs chief at the time. Colonel A instructed his subordinates to send the decree via text message to Ministry of National Defense reporters and diplomatic-security ministry officials, as they routinely did.

A key official at the Ministry of National Defense stated, "The comprehensive special counsel is zeroing in on Colonel A's single directive to send the text message of the decree and framing it as complicity in a major insurrection," adding, "The joke that even brushing against martial law means death seems to be an absolute investigative principle for the comprehensive special counsel." Defense Ministry reporter B raised their voice, saying, "Colonel A was drinking with several reporters and soldiers on the night of December 3, 2024, when he was startled by the declaration of martial law and returned to the JCS." They added, "He didn't know about martial law beforehand, didn't draft the decree, and wasn't the one who originally ordered its distribution to the media. How does it make sense to call him an insurrectionist involved in a major mission?" Another Defense Ministry reporter, C, clicked their tongue and said, "As someone who received the text message from the JCS Public Affairs Office and reported on the decree, I find it embarrassing to face JCS officers."

As time goes on, the task of liquidating past insurrections should become more sophisticated, but it seems to be going in the opposite direction. The reckless expulsion of innocent individuals like former Navy Chief of Staff Kang Dong-gil, former Ground Operations Commander Joo Sung-woon, former JCS Director of Operations Lee Seung-oh, and former JCS Director of Operations Planning Ahn Chan-myung from the military is a textbook example. It is akin to indiscriminately swinging a blunt sword and cutting down whoever gets caught, guilty or not.

During a Ministry of National Defense work report on the 5th, President Lee Jae-myung expressed unfiltered animosity toward the Korea Military Academy (KMA), stating, "How many military coups have there been in South Korea's history? Weren't they all committed by the Army? They were the work of Korea Military Academy graduates, but has anyone ever been held accountable for that?" The Army lieutenant colonel promotion personnel changes announced two days later materialized President Lee's remarks. Among eight lieutenant colonel promotees in the public affairs branch, zero were KMA graduates. Among 25 lieutenant colonel promotees in the engineering branch, only three were KMA graduates.

If the Moon Jae-in administration reined in the influence of the KMA, the Lee Jae-myung administration is virtually purging it. Generals Joo Sung-woon, Lee Seung-oh, and Ahn Chan-myung, who took off their military uniforms without committing any wrongdoing, are KMA graduates. Colonel A, who faces charges of complicity in a major insurrection for allegedly having the decree text sent to reporters, is also a KMA graduate. Promotions of field-grade officers from the KMA have also been blocked en masse, effectively cutting off the path for KMA graduates to become generals. A 40-something KMA-graduated officer sighed, saying, "I only want to be discharged quickly and build a new life."

For every action, there is a reaction. Should power alternate, non-KMA graduates are bound to fall while KMA graduates experience a resurgence. These are scenes that vividly manifested during the Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk-yeol administrations. KMA graduates leave under a Democratic Party government, and non-KMA graduates leave under a People Power Party government... Because sound officers find it difficult to survive in the military under this structure, non-KMA graduates are hardly welcoming the purge of KMA graduates either. One non-KMA Army officer lamented, "The core is disappearing from the military, leaving only the chaff behind."

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