Yoon conducts legal review of martial law decree: ex-defense minister

President Yoon Suk Yeol had conducted a legal review of last week’s martial law decree in person while rewriting it, the ex-defense minister, one of the key suspects in the alleged insurrection, said Wednesday.

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was questioned by prosecutors at a detention facility for the first time since his arrest earlier in the day.

During the five-hour questioning, he reportedly testified that President Yoon conducted a legal review of the martial law declaration by himself, and that he and the president co-wrote the final draft, with Yoon editing part of the content.

Additionally, Kim is said to have assigned duties related to martial law to top military officials on Dec. 1 and attempted to access facilities connected to the National Election Commission to secure evidence concerning allegations of election fraud.

Kim attempted to take his own life the previous night, while being held at Seoul Dongbu Detention Center in eastern Seoul on charges of insurrection, but he is currently in stable condition, the justice ministry said.

Kim was found trying to hang himself with a rope made from tying together innerwear inside a bathroom at the facility at 11:52 p.m., shortly before a court issued a warrant to arrest him, the ministry said.

“There was an immediate dispatch to restrain him,” the ministry said. “The medical team’s treatment showed he was in stable condition with no abnormalities, and he is currently being held under normal conditions.”

Kim was placed under formal arrest early Wednesday on charges of helping the president stage an insurrection through his short-lived imposition of martial law last week.

By law, those who participate in plotting an insurrection are punishable by death, life imprisonment or a prison term of at least five years.

Shin Yong-hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told a parliamentary legislation committee meeting that Kim is being held in a protective cell following the attempt on his own life.

Rep. Jung Chung-rai of the main opposition Democratic Party, who chairs the committee, suggested the former defense minister may have taken the extreme measure after feeling “wronged” that the prosecution was targeting him, not Yoon, over the alleged insurrection.

Justice Minister Park Sung-jae dismissed the notion

“I don’t think so,” he said during the meeting. “I don’t have a basis for this, but someone who tried to commit suicide likely had various reasons, and there is no way for me to know.”