South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense announced May 5 that it has imposed heavy disciplinary sanctions on four senior and field-grade officers indicted for their roles in the Dec. 3 emergency martial law, citing violations of legal-compliance obligations and duties of loyalty. According to the ministry, three officers were dismissed: Brig. Gen. Kim Jeong-geun, the former commander of the Special Warfare Command’s 3rd Airborne Brigade, who sent troops into the National Assembly; An Mu-seong, a colonel who had been slated for promotion to brigadier general and who previously commanded the 9th Airborne Brigade; and Col. Kim Se-woon, the former commander of the Special Operations Aviation Group, who transported troops to the legislature. Col. Kim Sang-yong, the former deputy chief of the Defense Investigation Headquarters, who helped organize arrest teams targeting politicians and other key figures, was removed from his post.
Earlier, the Defense Special Investigation Headquarters indicted eight people, including the former brigade commander Kim, on charges that included participating in major insurrection-related operations and abusing authority to obstruct the exercise of rights. A disciplinary panel convened earlier dismissed three others — Gu Sam-hoe, the former commander of the Army’s 2nd Armored Brigade; Jeong Seong-woo, the former head of Counterintelligence Division 1; and Kim Chang-hak, the former commander of the Capital Defense Command’s Military Police Unit — and removed Bang Jeong-hwan, the former defense innovation planning officer, from his position.
