Victims of Yoon’s power abuse seek justice

The arrest warrant issued for former President Yoon Suk-yeol this time differs significantly from the one in January, particularly regarding the Cabinet meeting on the day martial law was declared. While previous arguments emphasized the National Assembly's role as a post-facto check, the special counsel team highlighted the Cabinet's function as a prior check, citing legal grounds that required deliberation before any imposition of martial law. The special counsel viewed the Cabinet meeting as a prelude to martial law, not as part of its implementation. In this interpretation, the Cabinet, composed entirely of ministers responsible for related departments, must unanimously deliberate and approve such a measure. This contrasts sharply with the prosecution’s view.

In this light, Cabinet members who were unaware of the meeting or learned about the martial law declaration only while in transit were effectively stripped of their constitutional right to deliberate by President Yoon. This means nine Cabinet members may be considered victims of abuse of power. To avoid being labeled as co-conspirators, they are unlikely to claim, “I would have approved the declaration if I had attended.” The special counsel exploited a critical legal vulnerability, catching Yoon completely off guard.

Yoon has claimed that the Cabinet meeting proceeded normally before the martial law declaration, and even if there were procedural flaws, such emergencies did not require Cabinet approval. He even cited former President Kim Young-sam’s unilateral implementation of the real-name financial transaction system. However, this argument collapsed. During Yoon’s arrest hearing, it was revealed that, under the Kim Young-sam administration, a Cabinet meeting had indeed been held before that policy, with both video and minutes available. The fact that Yoon had denied this for months, despite such records being readily accessible online, was baffling in itself.

Further undermining Yoon’s case are official administrative standards from the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Government Legislation, both stating that declarations of martial law, constitutional amendments, and referendums require the co-signature of all Cabinet members. Coincidentally, these ministries are headed by Yoon’s former high school and college classmates, leaving him with no room to argue. The question raised by the special counsel—“Why did Chun Doo-hwan seek every Cabinet member’s co-signature?”—was not rhetorical.

Yoon’s rearrest carries weighty implications. Chun Doo-hwan was convicted of insurrection partly because he obtained co-signatures from Cabinet members in a room filled with armed soldiers, implying coercion. Yoon, by contrast, allegedly bypassed the Cabinet altogether and even forged the declaration to suggest post-facto approval from the Prime Minister and Defense Minister. This makes a defense against insurrection charges even harder.

The special counsel has added three additional abuse-of-power charges involving Cabinet members, presidential aides, and security personnel. Yoon is already on trial for abusing his power over six institutions, including the police and the military’s special warfare command, by deploying forces improperly to the National Assembly and the election commission on the day of martial law. Now the situation has worsened.

And it may not end here. Beyond the drone command allegedly involved in foreign provocations, lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party who interfered in the vote to lift martial law may now come forward to testify as victims of abuse, hoping to avoid being prosecuted as co-conspirators.

Ironically, the abuse-of-power statute, once used as a last resort in failed investigations, was something Yoon, as a prosecutor, wielded freely. Yet during his presidency, he saw no issue enforcing similarly abusive orders. The number of his direct victims alone already reaches dozens, with indirect ones numbering in the thousands. It is hard to predict how much this will grow once all three special investigations conclude. As Yoon continues to show no remorse, many more “victims” may come forward in search of their own justice.