Seoul's martial law probe reveals plan to provoke North Korea into attack

An ongoing probe into failed martial law in South Korea has exposed plans to “provoke” North Korea into an attack, details shared by police have revealed.

Such detailed plans were saved in a notebook which belongs to a former military intelligence commander who was also arrested in the ongoing probe launched in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s move to impose martial law on the night of December 3.

The plan was to provoke Pyongyang into an attack at the de facto western inter-Korean sea border, known as the Northern Limit Line or NLL in the Yellow Sea, police said.

According to the police on Monday, the plans were detailed in 60 to 70 pages of a notebook which belongs to former Army Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

Noh is a former chief of the Defence Intelligence Command (DIC) and police had raided his residence in the Ansan area of Gyeonggi province, south of the capital Seoul.

Noh, who was expelled from the military over a sexual abuse case in 2018, is a close aide of former Defence Minister Kim Yong-Hyun, who has also been arrested.

Earlier, opposition parties had claimed Kim’s actions attempted to trigger a war with Pyongyang to justify the martial law.

Spiritual consultant

North Korea had also reported drone flights over Pyongyang and said it shot down one, blaming the South Korean military for the incident.

Authorities are holding a probe against Yoon and his aides over the martial law decree, which was the 17th time in the history of South Korea while Yoon has since been impeached and awaits trial by Constitutional Court.

Several military officers have also been arrested.

Noh was operating a fortune-telling business from his home and working as a “spiritual consultant.”

Yoon has been again called for questioning on Wednesday by investigators while as Constitutional Court is set to hold first hearing of the impeachment trial on Friday.

Until now, the 63-year-old embattled leader has defied orders to attend any questioning by investigators.

The prosecutor-turned-president, whose duties have since been suspended, has refused to entertain notices from the top court.

However, the Constitutional Court said Monday it will proceed with its trial and notices to Yoon will be considered to have been served whether he received them or not.