South Korea: Chief of Defence Counterintelligence Command arrested in martial law probe

Yeo In-hyung, South Korea's Chief of the Defence Counterintelligence Command, on charges including insurrection on Saturday as part of an investigation into President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law last week. A prosecution investigation team handling the case arrested Yeo immediately after a military court issued an arrest warrant for him, making him the second key figure apprehended by the team following former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun.

Yeo is also the first sitting military serviceman arrested in the martial law investigation, Yonhap news agency reported.

He is suspected of sending troops of his unit to the National Assembly and the National Election Commission after martial law was imposed on December 3. The order was lifted hours later after the Assembly voted to reject it.

Charges against him also include ordering the arrest of 14 people, including the leaders of the ruling and main Opposition parties, and the procurement of computer servers at the election commission.

The military court reportedly concluded that the charges facing Yeo were grave and that he was a flight risk when issuing the warrant.

Yeo's lawyer, Park Yong-seok, told reporters that the commander "plans to explain and refute (the charges) in detail in the future investigation or trial."

Prosecution investigations have found that Yeo had ordered his troops to arrest Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and others without a warrant and detain them inside a military bunker at the Capital Defence Command.

Yeo's arrest is expected to add momentum to the prosecution's investigation into the martial law declaration, of which the team suspects Yoon had been the ringleader.

Meanwhile, on Friday, prosecutors arrested Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, the chief of South Korea's Capital Defence Command, as part of their ongoing investigation into his alleged involvement in President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief imposition of martial law.