[Exclusive] Coast Guard official probed

[Anchor]

The special counsel team investigating the insurrection has launched a probe into a senior Coast Guard official who had pushed for Coast Guard personnel to be dispatched to the Martial Law Command during the 12.3 emergency martial law declaration.

This official reportedly gave orders to prepare detention facilities, saying there would be many martial law offenders—raising suspicions that he may have known about the plan in advance.

Reporter Lee Hyung-kwan has the exclusive.

[Report]

During the 12.3 martial law incident, Ahn Sung-sik, the Coast Guard’s planning and coordination director, insisted that personnel be dispatched to the Martial Law Command.

When his proposal was met with resistance from related departments, he turned to local police stations.

According to KBS investigations, Ahn instructed them to “clear out and prepare the holding cells, because many martial law offenders might be coming.”

Currently, 18 Coast Guard stations nationwide each operate holding cells that can detain over 30 people.

However, on the day martial law was declared, it would have been difficult to foresee mass arrests of so-called “martial law offenders.”

Even the ruling party then only learned of the declaration three days later.

[Han Dong-hoon/Then-Leader of the People Power Party/Dec. 6, 2024: “We confirmed with credible evidence that the president had mobilized intelligence agencies to arrest political figures.”]

The operation to arrest politicians was a top-secret directive handed down by former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to his high school junior, former Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung. And Ahn, the Coast Guard official, is one year senior to Yeo from the same high school—Choongam High School.

There are even allegations that the Coast Guard was to be mobilized in plans devised by former Defense Intelligence Commander Noh Sang-won, who is suspected of being the mastermind behind the martial law scheme. These plans allegedly included detaining key figures on uninhabited islands or executing them at sea.

Ahn has denied the accusations, stating he was only making preparations in case martial law offenders were brought in, and denied any prior communication with his high school contacts.

[Moon Chul-ki/KBS Legal Advisor: “If it’s proven that he conspired with former President Yoon before the declaration of martial law, he could face charges of insurrection under the Criminal Code—punishable by death, life imprisonment, or at least five years in prison.”]

Following KBS’s report on the Coast Guard’s alleged involvement in the martial law plan, the presidential office has ordered the Coast Guard commissioner to investigate the matter.

The special counsel team has also officially launched its investigation.

This is Lee Hyung-kwan, KBS News.