*

Defence minister Kim Yong-hyun recommended imposing

martial law,

source said

*

President Yoon's allies desert him following announcement

on

Tuesday, impeachment support grows

*

Opposition lawmakers defied martial law declaration,

swiftly

voted to reject it

By Hyonhee Shin, Cynthia Kim, Ju-min Park and Hyunjoo Jin

SEOUL, Dec 4 (Reuters) - At his confirmation hearing

three months ago, South Korea's defence minister Kim Yong-hyun

rejected accusations from the opposition that he wanted to

impose martial law. It was, the conservative hardliner said,

political propaganda.

But when tensions between President Yoon Suk Yeol and his

political opponents reached a boiling point this week, it was

Kim, a longtime confidant of Yoon, who recommended imposing

martial law, according to a senior military official and

impeachment filings by opposition figures on Wednesday.

Kim proposed the idea because he believed the liberal

opposition had pushed Yoon to the edge, said the military

source, who denied that planning for martial law had been in the

works since before the confirmation hearing.

Yoon's shock move on Tuesday divided his ministers and his

ruling People Power Party and unleashed six hours of political

chaos in South Korea. His televised late-night declaration of

martial law plunged one of Asia's largest economies into crisis

and blemished the reputation of a U.S. ally that transitioned

from dictatorship to a democratic success story in the 1980s.

By the time Yoon, 63, rescinded martial law early Wednesday

following a vote by the opposition-dominated parliament to

reject it, his political fortunes and his grip on the country

had imploded spectacularly.

As the day wore on, many of Yoon's allies deserted him and

support grew across the political spectrum for his impeachment

and removal from office. He now faces an impeachment vote that

the opposition is seeking to push through this week.

This account of the moments leading up to the martial law

declaration and its aftermath is based on Reuters interviews

with more than a dozen officials, lawmakers and staffers. Some

spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive

issue.

Four of these people highlighted the pivotal role played by

Kim, a high-school buddy of Yoon, in supporting and facilitating

a botched power grab that the president said was necessary to

eradicate unspecified "pro-North Korean and anti-state forces"

arrayed against him and the country.

The defence ministry said it had no comment on detailed

questions posed by Reuters about Kim's involvement in planning

the decree. In a statement released through the ministry on

Wednesday, Kim took responsibility for the orders given to the

troops who stormed the parliament building, and offered to

resign.

A spokesperson for Yoon's office told Reuters that the

martial law decree was done in accordance with the constitution

and was necessary to protect democracy.

There have been more than a dozen declarations of martial

law since the foundation of the South Korean republic in 1948,

the last in 1979-1980 following the assassination of former

President Park Chung-hee.

CABINET MEETING

The speed with which long-simmering disputes between the

conservative government and its opponents over budgets,

investigations and scandals spiralled stunned South Korea and

its allies.

It also blindsided the ruling party, whose leader Han

Dong-hoon told reporters the presidential office had not

consulted with him about the move. He joined calls for Yoon to

rescind the order.

About four hours before his 10:23 p.m. announcement of

martial law, Yoon's office first told the national police chief

to be on standby, a police official told Reuters. At 9 p.m. Yoon

convened a cabinet meeting.

At that meeting "most" members were against the plan,

according to three government officials. Yoon forged ahead

regardless.

Among those opposed were Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, a Yoon

appointee who would become acting president if Yoon is removed

from office, as well as Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, and

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, one of the sources said.

A spokesperson for the prime minister's office said they had

no comment. A foreign ministry official confirmed Cho attended

cabinet meetings before and after the martial law announcement

but did not elaborate. A finance ministry spokesperson could not

be reached outside business hours on Wednesday.

Yoon, who was narrowly elected in 2022, has battled record

low approval ratings as scandals engulfed him and his wife, and

has expressed increasing frustration over opposition moves to

control government budgets.

"The so-called Chungam faction, those who went to the same

school as the president, these people have been assigned to

positions with authority over martial law and those able to

carry out martial law for several months already," said Kim

Min-seok, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party, who

questioned Kim Yong-hyun at the September hearing.

Chungam is the name of the high school that Yoon attended

alongside Kim Yong-hyun, who would become a key confidant of

Yoon and his head of presidential security.

While the defence minister played an influential role, Kim

Min-seok said he believes the president was ultimately calling

the shots.

Yoon sought to use the military as a tool to prevent

investigations into him and his wife over influence peddling

allegations, among other scandals, and to maintain power, Kim

Min-seok told Reuters in an interview at his office on

Wednesday. Yoon and his wife have denied wrongdoing.

Outside the office, the halls of the parliament building

bore the damage and debris from clashes with special forces

troops the night before.

SCRAMBLE FOR PARLIAMENT

Kim Min-seok was among 190 lawmakers who rushed back to the

domed National Assembly building on the south bank of the Han

River after Yoon's TV address.

Central to the failure of Yoon's gambit was the swift and

unanimous vote by lawmakers who defied police and special forces

troops to gather in the legislature to block the martial law

decree.

The main opposition parties summoned members of parliament

and their staffers back to the building when they heard Yoon's

speech. A short time later came a military decree banning

activity by parliament and political parties and calling for

government control of the media.

Confusion reigned as elected representatives, journalists,

and others grappled with what the order meant for them. On YTN,

a major broadcaster, a male anchor was visibly shaken, his voice

trembling after Yoon's address.

By 10:50 p.m., just 25 minutes after Yoon's speech, police

were blocking access to the parliament, Kim Min-gi, the

Secretary-General of the National Assembly, said at a briefing

on Wednesday.

An "uncountable" number of police surrounded the main doors

of the national assembly hall building, said Jeon Ki-eun, with

the office of the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Party

of Korea.

"Police were at all of the doors blocking lawmakers and

citizens from going in and out," he said.

Lee Jun-seok, New Reform Party lawmaker and ousted former

leader of Yoon's People Power Party, said it appeared that some

police did not know what to do.

"I overheard some of them communicating over walkie-talkies,

some saying 'let lawmakers in' and at other times 'don't let

them in'," he said.

Some lawmakers, including Kim Min-seok and senior Democratic

Party leaders, scaled the walls to enter the complex.

At about 11:40 p.m. the military began deploying 230

soldiers in 24 helicopter flights into the national assembly

compound, and another 50 entered over a fence.

The American-designed UH-60P Black Hawk helicopters landed

on a sports field inside the complex and disgorged masked

soldiers.

Park Sun-won, a member of parliament who previously worked

for the National Intelligence Service, provided Reuters with his

analysis that concluded the troops included members of the 707th

Special Missions Group, which is tasked with anti-terrorism and

top-secret missions, and the 1st Airborne Special Forces

Brigade, which had a history of involvement with a coup in

1979.

The military contingent also included the Special Duty Team

(SDT) of the Army Capital Defense Command, another

anti-terrorism unit.

Kim Tae-hyung, a member of boy band BTS who is known

professionally as V, is serving his mandatory national service

with the SDT in Seoul, though Reuters could not determine

whether he participated in the operation.

When asked about the units deployed and whether the K-pop

star was involved, the defence ministry said it could not

comment on specific units or agents. BTS's agency, HYBE

, was not immediately available for comment.

Another Democratic Party lawmaker, Kim Nam-geun, said he and

10 others were blocked by troops from entering a side door and

resorted to climbing a wall.

"It was very intense," he said.

The troops tried to enter the main building, breaking

windows, raising fears that they would block a vote, but

lawmakers' aides and citizens helped build a barricade to block

access.

Jeon said he and other staffers stacked chairs, tables,

flower pots and other furniture against the doors, hoping that

any lawmakers who had yet to arrive could make their way in

through hidden corridors.

Footage showed some staffers using fire extinguishers to

keep troops at bay. Lee Jun-seok said the troops were armed with

non-lethal projectiles.

While scuffles broke out at the gates, there was no serious

violence. And despite the order for media censorship, no such

control was exerted.

"The generation that experienced real martial laws in Korea

see this as child's play and an amateurish show because of what

appeared to be the soldiers' inability to lock down the National

Assembly, or perhaps even lack of communication from the

command," said Duyeon Kim, a Seoul-based analyst with the Center

for a New American Security.

HISTORIC VOTE

Shortly before 1 a.m., National Assembly Speaker Woo

Won-shik convened a session. Within 10 minutes the gathered

lawmakers unanimously passed a resolution calling for Yoon to

lift the state of martial law.

Under South Korea's constitution the president must rescind

a martial law decree if the parliament votes to oppose it.

"Inside the voting room, Democrats were pretty vocal and

were absolutely unified on stopping this situation," Lee

Jun-seok said. "It was obvious that the Democrats were in the

driving seat, leading up to the vote."

Some members of Yoon's ruling party showed up for the vote,

which passed 190-0.

Around 1:10 a.m., troops started leaving the parliament

building. The last were gone by 2 a.m.

Finally, at 4:30 a.m., Yoon backed down and said he would

lift the martial law, sparking joyous celebrations among the

thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the parliament.