President Yoon Suk-yeol declares martial law. Provided by the Presidential Office

Editorial Board Member, Korea Military Academy Class of '40The government is preparing a special statement and a press conference for foreign media on the occasion of the first anniversary of the December 3rd martial law, emphasizing "clearing up rebellion," "national unity," and "remembering the people's hardships." Through these events, it plans to present a message of democratic recovery both domestically and internationally. 

The key grounds for the impeachment related to the December 3rd martial law are consecutively being undermined. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo admitted his previous testimony, in which he claimed to have never seen the martial law document, was false and has been indicted on charges of perjury. While former First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won and former Special Warfare Commander Gwak Jong-geun testified that there were orders to arrest and execute politicians, significant doubts are now being raised about the credibility of their statements due to subsequent revelations of appeasement efforts toward the opposition party. As the core testimony supporting the impeachment collapses and the possibility of fabricated evidence grows, calls for a "retrial of the impeachment" are rapidly spreading.

Despite the impeachment itself becoming subject to retrial, the government is threatening judicial independence and completing the destruction of the separation of powers by pushing forward hastily drafted legislation, such as the "establishment of a rebellion tribunal" and a "second comprehensive special prosecutor." The year 2025 will be recorded in the history of Korean politics as the year of "martial law" and "martial law rebellion manipulation." 

The military leadership, as if rushed, framed the approximately 3,000 martial law troops who were deployed under orders as "rebellion troops." Yoo Jae-seung, the acting commissioner of the National Police Agency, admitted on the eve of the first anniversary of the December 3rd martial law that the police's actions in controlling the National Assembly at the time were unconstitutional and illegal, and issued a public apology. Powerful figures are criticizing even mentioning martial law as anti-constitutional complicity, and are pushing to brand even the review of martial law as a "rebellion conspiracy." 

1. Martial Law was an Act of State in Reaction to Pre-existing Rebellion

Martial law is a part of the acts of state explicitly stipulated in the Constitution. Public sentiment perceives martial law as a legitimate means to address the Democratic Party's rebellion. Therefore, the party that should apologize is not for "martial law," but for the "illegal impeachment" that falsely labeled martial law as rebellion. Democracy exists to prevent the abuse of power. 

However, since the launch of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, we have witnessed the unchecked, lawless, and unilateral actions of the legislative power. We have seen the Constitution and laws disregarded, 29 impeachment motions filed, critical government budgets slashed, state affairs obstructed by illegal and corrupt cartels, and a disastrous situation where common sense has collapsed. 

Even after witnessing the collapse of the separation of powers, the political sphere and the media remained silent, even applauding, and then, using "martial law declaration" as a pretext, lined up for a hastily fabricated impeachment that defied legal principles. The prosecution and judicial institutions endangered their own existence through indecisive indictments and judicial actions. The "impeachment" forces that led and passed the impeachment, instead of criticizing the National Assembly's illegality and law-breaking, further legitimized legislative power and precipitated a constitutional disruption. That "impeachment" is losing its grounds with time and is becoming subject to retrial.

2. Acceleration of Unchecked Atrocities Based on a Hasty Impeachment

Martial law is a legally existing system, but this does not mean endorsing the December 3rd martial law. If martial law troops had actually used force, it would have been a serious issue. Martial law was declared with the necessary conditions but was not executed. The dynamic relationship between that martial law and the rebellion is awaiting a judicial verdict. In contrast, the impeachment and "pro-impeachment" actions were carried out against public sentiment. 

No justice can stand above human rights. The atrocities of the special prosecutor, rationalized to legitimize the regime change through "impeachment," have proven to be destructive to liberal democracy. The National Human Rights Commission concluded that the death of Jeong Hee-cheol, the head of Danwol-myeon district in Yangpyeong County, due to coercive investigation, was a human rights violation. The Human Rights Commission indicted one police officer from the Min Jung-ki special prosecutor's team for abuse of power, requested an investigation into three others, and recommended disciplinary action against the Commissioner of the National Police Agency. 

3. A Message to the "Pro-Impeachment Faction" of the People Power Party

On December 14, 2024, during the National Assembly's vote on President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment motion, the People Power Party, as a party resolution, decided to "oppose the impeachment." However, the voting results revealed that at least 12 People Power Party lawmakers voted in favor, going against the party's resolution. They have been labeled as the "pro-impeachment faction." They failed to check the Democratic Party's parliamentary violence and unilateral actions and instead participated in the impeachment of their own party's president. We convey to them a lesson from history, showing the limits of self-serving political maneuvering that exploits opposing forces. 

In the 1930s, the German military attempted to use Hitler for rearmament, but ultimately lost all military authority to Hitler and became his tool of dictatorship. Lawmakers in the "pro-impeachment faction" who seek to use China and the opposing camp will become tools of dictatorship, or the regime will use them as a scapegoat to appease the anger of conservatives. 

The "apology for martial law" led by the pro-impeachment faction is a truly shameless act that fails to recognize their own wrongdoings. For them to maintain their political lives, "reflection on and apology for the pro-impeachment stance" must come first. Without it, any argument they make will be an empty echo. 

The central focus of national judgment should be the Constitution, not the voices of political conflict. Politics should be resolved based on constitutional principles, conscience, and common sense. On this first anniversary of the December 3rd martial law, the party that should apologize is not martial law, an act of state stipulated in the Constitution. Instead, it is: △ the 204 lawmakers who swiftly framed martial law as rebellion and filed an impeachment motion against "martial law" with logic that defied legal principles; △ the Constitutional Court, which impeached based on the perjury of three individuals; and △ the People Power Party's "pro-impeachment" faction, which secretly cast a vote in favor of impeachment against their own party's president, thus decisively completing the illegal impeachment. 

We urge the three representative forces—blinded by their own politics and borrowing unseen powers to complete the illegal impeachment—to repent and apologize. We also demand that broadcast stations, general programming channels, and newspapers that have solidified the "rebellion frame" for martial law, justified the illegal impeachment, and turned away from historical truth, repent and reflect if they do not wish to stand before the court of history. 

Editorial Board Member, Hanmi Ilbo