Former Defense Minister's claims

[Anchor]

One of the key issues regarding the martial law declaration is the existence of a note related to an emergency legislative body that was conveyed to then-Minister of Economy Choi Sang-mok.

This could serve as evidence that there was an attempt to incapacitate the National Assembly.

Former Defense Minister Kim stated that he authored this document and mentioned that there are other documents as well.

Reporter Jeong Sae-bae has the story.

[Report]

A one-page note containing the instruction to "prepare a budget for the national emergency legislative body."

This document was handed to then-Minister of Economy Choi Sang-mok during a Cabinet meeting on the day martial law was declared, raising suspicions that it was an attempt to incapacitate the National Assembly through martial law.

This note was also adopted as evidence in the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial of President Yoon, and former Minister Kim revealed that he was the one who wrote it.

He claimed it was intended to carry out "emergency financial legislative authority" through the Ministry of Economy in accordance with Article 76 of the Constitution.

[Kim Yong-hyun/Former Minister of National Defense: "It was to resolve various blocked issues that could not be addressed in the National Assembly."]

However, this also requires approval from the National Assembly, making the response contradictory in itself, and undermines the claim that the martial law was merely a temporary warning measure.

Former Minister Kim strongly denied when a judge asked whether it was modeled after the "National Security Legislative Council" from the Chun Doo-hwan military regime.

President Yoon maintained an attitude of not knowing much about the note.

[Yoon Suk Yeol, President: "(After the martial law) isn't it possible to think about such thing? I didn't know what it meant at first, but after hearing today's discussion, it seems to be that."]

Former Minister Kim also revealed for the first time that he drafted martial law documents not only for then-Deputy Prime Minister Choi and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul but also for Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min, and Police Chief Cho Ji-ho.

He added that it was a directive from President Yoon to request cooperation from relevant departments if needed as the minister in charge of emergency martial law.

KBS News Jeong Sae-bae.