Insurrection Special Prosecutor Appeals Acquittal of 8 Former Military Officers in 'Martial Law Deployment' and 'Hamburger Meeting' Cases

"Troop deployments to the National Assembly and National Election Commission are not permitted even under properly imposed martial law"

On November 5, the special prosecutor's team led by Cho Eun-seok appealed the first-trial acquittal of eight former military personnel, including Gu Samhoe, former commander of the Army's 2nd Armored Brigade (Brigadier General), who had been charged with offenses including participating in key duties of an insurrection.

Gu Samhoe, former commander of the Army's 2nd Armored Brigade (Brigadier General, left), and Bang Jeonghwan, former Director of Defense Innovation Planning (Brigadier General).

The team said it filed an appeal the previous day with the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Division 38-2, which heard the case, citing errors in fact-finding and misinterpretations of the law. The panel was presided over by Judge Jeong Suyeong, with Judges Choi Yeonggak and Jang Seongjin. The team explained, "We took into account that the defendants acquitted in this case were key commanders who had participated in planning before martial law was declared and received orders or stood by to carry out missions while maintaining secrecy, or who dispatched and commanded troops at locations including the National Assembly and the National Election Commission—actions that would never be permitted even under properly imposed martial law." It added, "We held working-level meetings with the Defense Ministry's prosecution unit and discussed in depth the problems with the lower court's blanket acquittal and how to maintain the prosecution in the appeals trial," and said, "We plan to jointly handle the prosecution in the appeals trial as well."

The case was investigated by the Defense Ministry's prosecution unit, which indicted the defendants in February 2026. It was transferred to the special prosecutor's team in April, and the two have jointly handled the prosecution since then. On October 30, the court acquitted Gu Samhoe, the former brigade commander, and Bang Jeonghwan, former Director of Defense Innovation Planning (Brigadier General), who attended the so-called "hamburger meeting" shortly before martial law was declared. The court found that the prosecution had not proven the purpose of disrupting the constitutional order, an element of the crime of insurrection. The other former military personnel, who were also tried on charges of deploying troops to the National Assembly, the National Election Commission and a private polling agency on the day martial law was declared, were all acquitted.

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