Former President Yoon began preparations for martial law in 2023, probe team finds
Published: 15 Dec. 2025, 10:57
![Former President Yoon Suk Yeol attends his trial on charges related to his December 2024 bid to impose martial law at the Seoul Central District Court in the capital, in this file photo from Sept. 26. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/15/24bf9649-5e05-4272-a84c-653f88cd1b0d.jpg)
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol attends his trial on charges related to his December 2024 bid to impose martial law at the Seoul Central District Court in the capital, in this file photo from Sept. 26. [YONHAP]
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol had been preparing to impose martial law since before October 2023, the special probe team announced in its report on Monday.
On Dec. 3, 2024, when Yoon declared martial law, he cited the repeated impeachment attempts by the National Assembly as legislative dictatorship and budget cuts to justify his move in a televised address to the nation. However, the special counsel team concluded that Yoon had repeatedly mentioned the idea of “emergency presidential authority” to people around him from the early days of his term — which began on May 10, 2022 — and had carried out behind-the-scenes preparations for it beginning in 2023.
The investigation found that during a dinner with People Power Party leadership on Nov. 25, 2022, Yoon said, “I have emergency presidential authority. I'll wipe everything out, even if it means I am shot to death."
Investigators also secured testimony from a former senior security official stating that they had heard as early as July or August 2022 that Yoon was planning to impose martial law after the general election in April 2024.
The special counsel team also identified signs that Yoon and others reviewed whether to impose martial law before or after military personnel reshuffles scheduled for October the following year. Investigators believe that preparations entered a full-fledged phase at that point.
During the subsequent military reshuffle, key figures who later played central roles in the martial law plan — including former Defense Security Command chief Yeo In-hyung and former Army Chief of Staff Park An-su — were placed in crucial posts. This matched entries found in a notebook belonging to former Defense Intelligence Command chief Noh Sang-won, who was identified as one of the “designers of martial law.”
![Broadcast booths from major networks are being set up at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Dec. 1, ahead of the first anniversary of the Dec. 3 martial law crisis. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/15/9eabafd4-d216-4137-bb35-7ca6d86f72f8.jpg)
Broadcast booths from major networks are being set up at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul on Dec. 1, ahead of the first anniversary of the Dec. 3 martial law crisis. [YONHAP]
The special counsel team concluded that Yoon imposed martial law to suppress political opponents by force and to monopolize and maintain power. According to the report, he sought to establish a dictatorship by mobilizing the military to seize judicial authority and create an emergency legislative body to control legislative power, thereby consolidating legislative, judicial and executive authority.
Investigators also determined that Yoon attempted to provoke a military response from North Korea through abnormal military operations to fabricate justification and conditions for imposing martial law. Notes found on Yeo’s mobile phone included phrases such as “a wartime situation or one beyond police control must occur” and “military codification, offensive measures, creation of enemy conditions.”
In addition, the special counsel team concluded that Yoon attempted to manipulate the results of the April general election last year as “election fraud by anti-state forces” and used this as justification to paralyze the National Assembly, including by occupying the National Election Commission.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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