The key role played by the military intelligence command in the December 3 uprising led by President Yoon Suk-yeol is coming to light. An intelligence officer, identified only by his surname Jeong, revealed through his lawyer on December 20the existence of a list of employees of the Central Election Commission to be arrested, a means of physical detention, and a plan to move to a detention center during the day after the declaration of martial law. He is accused of plotting martial law in advance with former and current intelligence commanders Moon Sang-ho and Roh Sang-won at a burger restaurant earlier this month. The intelligence officer allegedly arranged for HID (Headquarters Intelligence Detachment) North Korean operatives to be stationed in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Pangyo, ahead of the declaration of martial law, and purchased North Korean military uniforms for the first time in a decade.

HID is a unit under the Defense Intelligence Agency of the Ministry of National Defense that conducts intelligence collection and espionage. It also infiltrates agents into North Korea to carry out operations. The fact that this unit was so deeply involved in the rebellion is shocking. The intelligence service's involvement in the civil war was revealed by the parliamentary investigation in two ways. They tried to seize the servers of the National Election Commission and arrest its staff. This is largely confirmed by the testimonies of intelligence officials. The fact that they tried to stop the power of constitutional institutions is evidence of their intention to disrupt the national constitution. There are also suspicions that they tried to mobilize North Korean agents to foment unrest. While we don't know if they planned to assassinate officials, we can at least suspect that they used agents in North Korean military uniforms to justify or extend martial law. If they were trying to mobilize the “Red Scare” for a national emergency, that's another matter. Investigators need to get to the bottom of this.

Yoon always said that there was a serious security crisis and that we should prepare for war. But now it seems clear that he mobilized the military not for national security but for his regime security and his family security. Why is it that the commanders of the military's major functional units, including the Defense Counterintelligence Command, the Army Capital Defense Command, the Army Special Warfare Command, and the intelligence agency, have all been detained, but I am not concerned about our security? It is because I am convinced that even if they are in their positions, they will not be very competent in security.

This regime will go down in history as a regime that privatized the military and destroyed security from within. While much of the blame lies with an insane and incompetent commander-in-chief and an anachronistic chief of staff like Kim Yong-hyun, the blame also lies with mid-level officials like Moon Sang-ho. When the dust settles, it will be time to seriously consider whether to leave the South Korean military organization at its current size, including the countless “collaborating generals,” and how to strengthen civilian control of the miliary.