Martial law troops spotted at National Assembly Speaker's official residence

[Anchor]

It has been revealed that soldiers were dispatched to the Speaker of the National Assembly's residence during the state of emergency martial law.

In response to suspicions about whether the troops were attempting to arrest the Speaker or impose a second martial law, the Ministry of National Defense explained that they had been sent to guard the military facility in Hannam-dong at the request of the Presidential Security Service.

Reporter Min Jeong-hee has the details.

[Report]

Around 1:40 AM on December 4, about ten soldiers were seen moving in a line along the wall of the Speaker's residence in Hannam-dong.

This was 40 minutes after a resolution demanding the lifting of emergency martial law was passed in the National Assembly.

They gathered at the main gate of the Speaker's residence eight minutes later, and withdrew at 4:45 AM, 15 minutes after President Yoon Suk Yeol accepted the demand to lift the martial law.

This footage was obtained after the National Assembly Secretariat conducted a thorough investigation of the closed-circuit television installed at the residence in response to suspicions that armed soldiers were dispatched to the Speaker's residence during the martial law.

The Secretary General of the National Assembly demanded an explanation from the Ministry of National Defense regarding why the martial law troops were loitering around the residence.

[Kim Min-ki/Secretary General of the National Assembly: "Was there an order to arrest the Speaker, who could return to the residence after the resolution to lift the martial law was passed? Was there an intention for a second martial law...?"]

In response, the military stated that the troops were sent to guard the military facility in Hannam-dong, where the presidential residence is located, at the request of the Presidential Security Service, not the martial law command.

They explained that the soldiers involved were unarmed and unrelated to the martial law troops, and that the Speaker's residence is located within a military facility protection area.

This is KBS News, Min Jeong-hee.