[Lee Kyong-hee] Warmongers, shamans and plastic surgery

South Koreans obviously will remember December 2024 for the rapid quashing of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law decree and his impeachment. But if allegations surrounding his self-coup prove true, the back story will not take a backseat when judging how sinisterly Yoon behaved. The allegations paint a picture of a leader who not only put his nation’s democracy at risk but also its security to gain traction on his stalled policy goals.

The imminent question before the Constitutional Court is whether Yoon is guilty of attempting an insurrection to silence opposition parties and assuming carte blanche authority. However, if there is even a thread of truth in the allegations, the real question is whether a person with despicable morals and ethics should be retained in office.

Revelations by opposition lawmakers and investigators claim Yoon and his accomplices tried to bait North Korea into an attack on several occasions to create a pretext for martial law. Their plot is suspected to have included military provocations in hopes of inducing a dramatic response by the North, which would raise public fears in the South and induce acceptance of martial law.

One supposed attempt involved an order by then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to strike the spot from where the North sends its garbage-filled balloons. But Adm. Kim Myung-soo, chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, squelched the order, fearing “a limited war and consequent damage on civilians,” according to investigators.

Kim Yong-hyun also is suspected of ordering drones into North Korea. In mid-October, North Korea claimed to have discovered the remnants of uncrewed aerial vehicles carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets in its capital. It accused Seoul of sending the drones and destroyed North-South road and rail links, escalating tensions further. Kim was arrested on Dec. 8, on charges of recommending the martial law order and sending troops to block lawmakers from parliament. The same day, a military warehouse for drones and launchers burned down. The origin of the fire so far is a mystery.

Noh Sang-won, a retired defense intelligence commander, also is a suspect. He and officers of the Defense Intelligence Command are known to have met at a hamburger restaurant. Investigators say Noh’s notebook contains notes for a false flag operation aimed at inducing an attack by the North across the Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean sea border and a major flash point.

The “Baengnyeongdo Operation” allegedly called for the assassination of 16 political figures on board a ship headed toward the island, close to the NLL. The plan involved an assault by an unidentified vessel and pointing the finger at North Korea. That would justify cross-border retaliation and risk tit-for-tat armed exchanges along the Demilitarized Zone, arousing a crisis needed as the pretext for martial law.

Investigators say they have yet to ascertain any connection between Noh’s memos and Yoon’s martial law order. But they dovetail with opposition lawmaker Kim Byung-joo’s assertion that 20 members of the Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment unit were “on standby at a location in Seoul” on the night of Dec. 3, when Yoon declared martial law. The HID unit is normally deployed to the DMZ for operations in North Korea.

Kim, an Army four-star general-turned-politician, citing anonymous military sources, says that the HID unit was tasked with causing disturbances at the National Election Commission the following day. Yoon asserted that his martial law order was primarily to verify rumors that the April parliamentary elections were rigged to hand the opposition camp a landslide victory.

The notes also segue into another alleged conspiracy. Testifying at a National Assembly hearing on Dec. 13, YouTube journalist Kim Ou-joon said he received a tip about an “assassination squad.” Its tasks, according to Kim, included the killing of Han Dong-hoon, then the leader of the ruling People Power Party, and US soldiers, burying North Korean military uniforms at a specific location and “discovering” the uniforms so all the slayings could be attributed to North Korea.

Kim testified that his information had not been “fully verified.” Pressured about his source, he only said the tips came from “an ally with an embassy in Seoul.” Although the US Embassy in Seoul denied it was the source, coincidentally or not, US Rep. Brad Sherman (D-California) said during an interview with MBC, “If the South Korean military struck a location within South Korea in a false flag operation, the US would have known the truth and I would hope the public know it, too.”

One would expect Pyongyang to pounce on the allegations and portray the South as a warmonger. But it remains silent.

Intriguingly, Noh was found to be running a fortunetelling shop under the pseudonym “Baby Bodhisattva.” That instantly arouses suspicions that this “old boy” is part of an unofficial network of first lady Kim Keon Hee, who boasts of her own fortunetelling skills.

Curiously, Kim reportedly visited her favorite plastic surgery clinic for three hours on the evening of Dec. 3. The purpose of her visit remains unknown. Rumors run rampant that she “wanted to look prettier before her gods” at the critical hour. All said and done, the sooner she and her husband awake from the delusion of continuing to wield power, the better for the nation.

Lee Kyong-hee

Lee Kyong-hee is a former editor-in-chief of The Korea Herald. The views expressed here are the writer's own. -- Ed.