"Do Not Cross Seogang Bridge": Colonel Cho Seonghyun Referred to Trial... Special Prosecution Says "Cannot Be Seen as Refusal of Orders"

Cho Seonghyun Indicted for Participation in Important Insurrectionary Duties
"Involvement in Blockading the National Assembly by Deploying Guardian Task Force"
Kim Sanghwan, Former Army Headquarters Policy Chief,
Also Indicted Without Detention for Aiding and Abetting Insurrection

The second special prosecution team led by Kwon Chang-yeong has indicted former Commander of the 1st Security Group of the Capital Defense Command, Cho Seong-hyun, on charges of involvement in deploying Capital Defense Command troops to the National Assembly during the 12·3 Martial Law incident.

Colonel Seonghyun Cho, Commander of the 1st Security Group of the Capital Defense Command, testified on the 13th at the 8th hearing of President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment trial held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Provided by the Constitutional Court Yonhap News Agency

On the 19th, the special prosecution team announced that Cho had been indicted without detention on charges of participation in important insurrectionary duties.

The special prosecution team determined that Cho participated in the martial law on the day of the incident, recognizing the purpose of undermining the constitutional order, after receiving instructions from Lee Jin-woo, then commander of the Capital Defense Command. Shortly before the proclamation of martial law, Cho reportedly received an order from Lee to convene the ‘Guardian Task Force (TF)’ and ordered the troops to carry blank ammunition. The Guardian Task Force is a unit within the Capital Defense Command established in February 2024 to handle counter-terrorism and special missions, with Cho serving as team leader.

Afterwards, Cho instructed subordinate units to bring batons and move toward the National Assembly. Even after receiving an order from Lee to "remove members of the National Assembly," he did not immediately issue an order to withdraw the troops, according to the investigation. The special prosecution team judged that although Cho was fully aware there was no terrorism situation at the time, he was involved in the attempt to blockade the National Assembly by deploying the Guardian Task Force.

Cho’s defense argued that he recognized the situation as an unannounced counter-terrorism drill by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and that his instruction for the troops to stand by at the northern end of Seogang Bridge was intentionally passive to avoid actual engagement. Previously, Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok determined that Cho's response to Lee’s orders was passive or amounted to refusal, resulting in his case not being prosecuted.

Meanwhile, the special prosecution team has also indicted Kim Sang-hwan, former policy chief at Army Headquarters, without detention on charges of aiding and abetting insurrection. The team believes that Kim, despite recognizing the martial law as illegal, boarded a bus at Gyeryongdae for Seoul in order to serve as chief of the martial law command’s legal department.

Additionally, Hong Chang-sik, the Ministry of National Defense’s legal affairs director, has been referred to trial on charges of dereliction of duty. The special prosecution team judged that Hong failed to fulfill his duties as legal affairs director during the emergency martial law by not providing necessary legal advice to Kim Yong-hyun, the former defense minister, and the vice minister, among others.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.