I wonder what will happen if the legal system convicts Yoon of treason, but the Constitutional Court does not approve his impeachment?:
Attorney Yoon Gap-geun, legal representative for President Yoon Suk Yeol, speaks during a press conference held near Gangnam Station in Seoul on Saturday.
Attorney Yoon Gap-geun argued that the declaration of martial law by President Yoon could never constitute treason, stating, “Martial law is a constitutional authority granted to the president, and there has never been a case where the exercise of emergency powers by the president was punished as treason. This conclusion is supported by the majority of constitutional scholars.”
On the North Korean provocation scale, testing a cruise missile is pretty low:
North Korea on Sunday said it tested sea-to-surface strategic cruise-guided missiles, the previous day, in its first provocation since US President Donald Trump officially began his second term.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Missile Administration test-fired the missiles on Saturday, which flew 1,500 kilometers over their flight trajectories for 7,507 to 7,511 seconds before precisely hitting their targets, according to the Korean Central News Agency. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or DPRK is North Korea’s official name.
Yoon's party rating now 48.5% v Dem 38.8% Males 49.2 v 37.5 Females 47.8 v 40.1
I keep posting Yoon/party's soaring ratings bc this #PlotTwist is the real political drama of the day, no matter pro-/anti-Yoon. From Day 2 of martial law I've predicted it. https://t.co/PscrdxcQti
Live-fire drill Soldiers of the Army’s 30th Mechanized Infantry Division conduct an artillery live-fire drill with K-55A1 self-propelled howitzers at an Army training range in Paju, north of Seoul, on Jan. 22, 2025, as part of the unit’s tactical drill tailored for the winter’s severe cold period. (Yonhap)
The CIO is making themselves look ridiculous at this point. Yoon has told them repeatedly that he is exercising his right to remain silent and yet they are playing this hide and seek game with him:
Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, speaks to reporters as he arrives for work at the office in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, on Jan. 22, 2025. (Yonhap)
Investigators failed Wednesday at their third attempt to forcibly bring in President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning over his botched martial law bid. (……)
Prosecutors and investigators with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) visited the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, south of Seoul, to question Yoon over his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, but the president refused all forms of interrogation, including on-site.
“We plan to discuss and decide the next steps in the questioning and procedures,” the CIO said in a notice to the press.
The investigators withdrew after five hours while Yoon met with his legal team.
So basically when the CIO shows up Yoon has meetings with his lawyers or he is attending his impeachment trial or going to the hospital:
Investigators went to the detention center on Monday and Tuesday to forcibly bring him in but withdrew both times after Yoon’s side refused to cooperate.
Under human rights protection regulations, investigators cannot question a suspect without his or her consent after 9 p.m.
Yoon returned to the detention center past that time on Tuesday after attending his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court and stopping at a military hospital to get a health exam.
“It kind of turned out like a game of hide-and-seek,” Oh said when asked if he was aware of Yoon’s plans to visit the hospital. “(The investigators) waited at the detention center because it didn’t seem right from the perspective of human rights to go looking for him at the hospital.”
So why is the CIO continuing to play this hide and seek game with someone exercising their right to remain silent?
This really is not surprising that the rank and file North Korean Soldiers did not know they were being sent to fight against Ukraine:
One of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukraine this month has claimed that he arrived in Russia without knowing whom he would be fighting, according to another video of his interrogation released by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Earlier this month, Zelenskyy disclosed that his forces had captured the North Korean soldiers in Russia’s western front-line region of Kursk, sharing videos of their interrogation on the social media platform X.
In the latest video posted on Monday (local time), one of the captured soldiers said he arrived in Russia aboard a ship with around 100 others before being transported inland by rail with them.
“Even after coming here, I didn’t know that I would be fighting the Ukrainian people,” the man said in the video in Korean. The video could not be independently verified.
Recovery work at court attacked by protesters People clean up destroyed equipment at the Seoul Western District Court in the capital on Jan. 19, 2025, after angry supporters of detained President Yoon Suk Yeol stormed into the court in an act of violent vandalism following the court’s decision to formally arrest Yoon over his failed martial law bid. (Yonhap)
I am sure the USFK PAO did not have this on their bingo card of things they would have to respond to this week:
The United States Forces Korea on Monday denied online media reports of 99 Chinese spies being captured by the US and South Korean military and confessing to election rigging, saying the notion is “entirely false.”
“The depiction of US forces and the allegations in the mentioned ROK media articles are entirely false. US Forces Korea remains committed to its mission of maintaining stability and security on the Korean Peninsula in accordance with the US-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty. We urge responsible reporting and fact-checking to prevent the spread of misinformation that could harm public trust,” the USFK said in a public statement, referring to South Korea’s formal name, the Republic of Korea.
Thursday’s claim by Sky Daily, a far-right platform founded in 2011, alleged that the South Korean military cooperated with the US military to take into custody 99 Chinese nationals at the National Election Commission building during the Dec. 3-4 imposition of martial law.
You can read more at the link, but even if the Chinese had spies in the NEC this would have nothing to do with USFK. This would be completely a ROK counterintelligence and law enforcement matter to arrest Chinese spies.