South Korea: Three more military commanders suspended over martial law allegations

Seoul, March 4 (IANS) Three more military commanders, including the head of a special forces unit, have been suspended from their duties in connection to their alleged roles in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law imposition, the defence ministry said Tuesday.

The defence ministry said it has suspended the duties of Maj. Gen. Park Heon-su, chief of the Defence Ministry Investigation Headquarter; Brig. Gen. Lee Sang-hyun, commander of the 1st Special Forces Airborne Brigade; and Col. Kim Hyun-tae, head of the Army Special Warfare Command’s 707th Special Mission Group, Yonhap news agency reported.

The three commanders are among the seven military officials who were indicted by the prosecution last week over charges of taking part in barricading the National Assembly and operating an arrest team during Yoon’s botched martial law bid on December 3.

In February, the defence ministry placed on compulsory leave four former military commanders and Gen. Park An-su, chief of staff of the Army who served as martial law commander, after they were indicted over their alleged roles in the martial law imposition.

The move, which retains them as servicemen, was seen as an attempt to allow the military to possibly take disciplinary measures should the former commanders be found guilty.

Meanwhile about two dozen students, alumni and others gathered at Ewha Womans University in Seoul last week, denouncing the National Assembly’s impeachment of South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol as “invalid,” only to encounter another group of students holding an in-school rally calling for Yoon’s ouster at the same time.

The encounter quickly escalated into violence as dozens of pro-Yoon YouTubers and activists broke into the campus to join forces, along with an opposing group of anti-Yoon student activists, despite the female-only university’s ban on outsiders entering the campus for any rally.

–IANS

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