South Korea to probe military plan to quell protests against ex-president Park Geun-hye
Current President Moon Jae-in ordered his defence minister to establish a special team to investigate
South Korea’s president has ordered an investigation into a revelation that the military drew up a plan to mobilise troops if protests worsened over the fate of his impeached predecessor last year, officials said Tuesday.
Military intervention in civilian affairs is an extremely sensitive issue in South Korea, which was ruled by army-backed dictatorships for decades before achieving democracy in the late 1980s.
During the harsh rules, authorities occasionally proclaimed a martial law and other decrees that allowed them to station combat soldiers, tanks and armoured vehicles on streets or at public places like schools to prevent any anti-government demonstrations.
The latest controversy over military intervention flared last week when a ruling party lawmaker disclosed a document showing the military planned to use troops to maintain order if rallies either opposing or supporting then-President Park Geun-hye grew violent after a Constitutional Court ruling on her impeachment over a corruption scandal.
The Defence Ministry later confirmed the existence of the document, which was written during Park’s presidency by its intelligence arm called the Defence Security Command.
Current President Moon Jae-in, during a visit to India on Monday night, ordered his defence minister to establish a special team to investigate the document, Moon’s spokesman Kim Eui-kyum told reporters in Seoul on Tuesday.
