South Korea’s Yoon planned to capture, kill political rivals: court
In shock testimony, a former commander claims Yoon Suk-yeol ordered political rivals captured so he could ‘shoot and kill them all’ himself
The claim, delivered under oath at the Seoul Central District Court, stunned the chamber – marking a pivotal moment in a case testing the resilience of the country’s democratic institutions against the re-emergence of authoritarian impulses once thought buried.
Kwak Jong-keun, who commanded elite military units on the night of the martial law decree, told the court that Yoon, 64, had ordered him to “bring key political opponents” so the former president “could shoot them himself”.
You said you yourself would shoot and kill them all
Yoon – wearing a dark blue suit without a tie, a prisoner’s badge pinned to his chest and his silver-streaked hair undyed – appeared visibly shaken by the allegation, observers said.