'Did you truly never give such an order?'

Kwak Jong-geun, former commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, who is currently on trial for his involvement in the December 3 martial law, recently submitted a statement to the court in which he addressed President Yoon Suk Yeol, asking, "Did you truly never give me the order that night to drag out the legislators from the National Assembly?" "I will accept any legal responsibility," Kwak said. "If the president conceals the truth of that day and turns my subordinates and me into liars, it would mean killing the soldiers who followed his orders twice." In a handwritten memo from prison, which was made public by the media, Kwak also wrote, "Does our military value loyalty? Does it value honesty?" "How are we supposed to understand a world where those who work with honesty and do their best are not respected, but instead exploited and made to look like fools?"

Until now, President Yoon has admitted to having been in contact with Kwak and former Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo before and after the declaration of martial law. However, he has never clearly explained the full details of the orders he gave. He has only nitpicked certain claims. The order from President Yoon to remove the legislators has been consistently testified to by several of Kwak’s subordinates, including the commander of the 1st Airborne Brigade of the Special Forces and the battalion commanders under him who participated in the National Assembly operation. Cho Seong-hyeon, the commander of the 1st Guard Battalion of the Capital Defense Command, who was the only witness officially summoned by the Constitutional Court, also testified that he received an order from Lee to enter the main building of the National Assembly and remove the legislators.

The orders President Yoon gave during the period of martial law cannot be concealed simply because the military leadership remains silent. If, as President Yoon claims, he never gave the order to remove the legislators, does that mean all those commanding officers conspired to fabricate a false directive? To Kwak’s question—‘Did you truly never give such an order?’—President Yoon must now provide a clear and honest answer.