It has been revealed that former President Yoon Suk-yeol, during his presidency, referred to former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon as “a commie” while emphasizing the need for emergency martial law, and when thenDefense Minister Shin Won-sik expressed opposition to this, he replaced the defense minister with Kim Yong-hyun, who was then the chief of the presidential security office.

Special Counsel for the insurrection case Cho Eun-seok stated this at a briefing on the investigation results in the press room of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on the 15th. Cho said, “In Hawaii, after attending the NATO summit in July 2024, Yoon Suk-yeol and Kim Yong-hyun told the accompanying Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Kang Ho-pil, ‘Han Dong-hoon is a commie. Should the military not participate?,’ expressing hostility toward Han and the need for emergency martial law,” and added, “When Kang Ho-pil reported the remarks by Yoon to Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Kim Myung-soo, Shin strongly conveyed to Kim Yong-hyun his opposition to martial law, and Yoon abruptly replaced the defense minister from Shin Won-sik to Kim Yong-hyun.”

Cho added, “At a dinner with military commanders on October 1, 2024, Yoon said, ‘Bring in Han Dong-hoon. I will shoot him dead,’ and he sought to arrest a judge who had handed down a ruling that did not please him,” and continued, “These facts show that Yoon was not acting out of conviction but tried to label those who crossed or opposed him as anti-state forces and to remove them through emergency martial law.”