Troops deployed to northernmost local governments after martial law declaration

[Anchor]

It has been revealed that military forces were deployed to Yanggu and Goseong County, located in the northernmost border area of Gangwon Province, immediately after the declaration of emergency martial law.

KBS has obtained CCTV footage from that time.

There are questions about why military forces were moved to specific areas when there were no unusual activities from North Korea.

Reporter Choi Jun-hyuk has the details.

[Report]

About an hour and a half after the emergency martial law was declared, on the morning of December 4, soldiers entered the Yanggu County Office.

Some were wearing helmets and carrying rifles.

A total of seven soldiers, including military police from the Army's 21st Division, arrived one after another.

Two of them went to the integrated control center of the county office's CCTV, while the others connected communication equipment in the underground situation room.

[Yanggu County Office Official/Voice Altered: "(At that time) we didn't know why martial law was being declared or why the alert level 2 was issued. Not knowing that, the soldiers were just waiting."]

At a similar time, two soldiers from the 22nd Division and the 56th Brigade were deployed to the nearby Goseong County Office.

The military authorities stated that this was a measure taken in response to the alert level 2, which corresponds to 'Jindogae 2,' and that prior consultations were held with the county office.

However, there are lingering questions as the Joint Chiefs of Staff officially announced during the martial law that "there are no unusual activities from North Korea," and why only military forces from the 3rd Corps, among the four corps responsible for the North Korean border area, were dispersed to administrative agencies.

[Eom Hyo-sik/Secretary-General of the Korea Defense and Security Forum: "The fact that the alert level was raised without detecting any unusual activities from the North Korean military, especially the movement of military forces only in specific areas, seems unusual."]

The military forces from the 3rd Corps remained at the county office for nearly two hours after the National Assembly processed the resolution to lift the martial law, before withdrawing.

This is KBS News' Choi Jun-hyuk.