0
Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo arrives at the Seoul High Court’s special counsel office in Seocho District on August 19 to undergo questioning over allegations of involvement in the December 3 martial law incident. / Photo by Song Ui-joo

The special counsel investigating the December 3 martial law incident filed an arrest warrant on August 24 for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, marking the first time in South Korea’s constitutional history that a former prime minister faces such a request.

According to special counsel Cho Eon-seok’s team, the charges include aiding the ringleader of insurrection, perjury, and falsification of official documents.

Han is accused of neglecting his constitutional duty to check the president when former President Yoon Suk Yeol declared emergency martial law on December 3, despite his role as “the nation’s No. 2 official” with a responsibility to provide oversight. Investigators believe he prioritized carrying out orders rather than fulfilling his constitutional role of balancing presidential power. As prime minister, Han chaired Cabinet meetings as vice-chair and supervised ministries under presidential authority.

The team also alleges that Han drafted and later destroyed a revised martial law proclamation intended to correct legal flaws in the original declaration. He reportedly signed a proclamation drafted by former presidential aide Kang Ui-gu two days after the martial law announcement, but later asked Kang to discard the document.

Han is further suspected of committing perjury in testimonies before the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly by claiming he had no recollection of receiving the martial law proclamation from Yoon. However, during his second round of questioning on August 19, he reportedly admitted he did receive the proclamation from the former president on the day it was announced.

Special counsel Park Ji-young told reporters that the arrest request reflected the prime minister’s constitutional role, saying, “We considered the status and responsibility of the prime minister as a constitutional institution who could have prevented an unconstitutional and unlawful declaration of martial law.”