Noh Sang-won notes: “Induce North Korea's NLL provocation”

[Anchor]

Now, we turn to news related to the 12.3 emergency martial law.

Suspicious circumstances are emerging that former Intelligence Commander Noh Sang-won was involved in this martial law on multiple fronts.

First, it has been confirmed that there is a note in former Commander Noh's notebook indicating the intention to provoke an attack from North Korea at the Northern Limit Line.

In addition to charges of insurrection, it seems that an investigation will also be conducted regarding suspicions of manipulating public sentiment using North Korea-related threats.

Go Eun-hee reports.

[Report]

The police have secured a notebook from former Commander Noh's residence, which is about 60 to 70 pages long, and it has been revealed that it contains numerous entries related to the martial law.

In particular, it has been confirmed that there was a note stating, "Provoking an attack from the North at the Northern Limit Line (NLL)."

[Yoon Kun-young/Member of the National Assembly's Public Administration and Security Committee/Democratic Party: "Words like 'induce provocation from the North at the NLL' and 'blocking the National Assembly' have come up... It was noted in the notebook, right?"]

[Woo Jong-soo/Head of the National Investigation Headquarters, National Police Agency: "I don't know if it was specifically executed, but it is true that such content was in the notes."]

The police stated that it has not been confirmed whether any actual actions took place, but this can be interpreted as an indication that there was an attempt to provoke North Korean actions to secure justification for the martial law.

The NLL has been referred to as the "powder keg of the Korean Peninsula" due to the constant risk of conflict between the North and South.

In particular, North Korea has been escalating tensions this year by stating its intention to establish a new "maritime border" instead of the NLL.

Following North Korea's "multiple provocations," such as the release of garbage balloons, the government resumed artillery training in the West Sea near the NLL last June.

This training was conducted three times by the end of last month, and it is expected to be investigated whether the resumption of training, which halted the full effect of the September 19 military agreement and resumed after seven years, was intended to provoke North Korea during the time when martial law was being discussed.

Previously, the Democratic Party accused former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun of ordering strikes on the origin of the garbage balloons and the infiltration of drones into Pyongyang, filing charges against him and President Yoon Suk Yeol for foreign exchange crimes.

With the discovery of the note regarding "inducing North Korea's provokation at the NLL" in former Commander Noh's notebook, it seems that the investigation into the so-called "North-related political maneuvering plan" suspicions will intensify.

This is KBS News Go Eun-hee.