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There are mounting suspicions that former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun intended to justify the declaration of martial law or a state of united defense by instigating a military conflict with North Korea by ordering strikes on the sites from which the North was launching trash-filled balloons and flying unmanned drones to Pyongyang.

Democratic Party lawmaker Park Beom-kye revealed Monday that he received a tip-off from a military whistleblower that the unmanned drones North Korea claimed Seoul had sent to Pyongyang in October were indeed sent on orders of the South Korean military — more specifically, on the orders of the former defense minister.

“The Defense Counterintelligence Command, formerly led by Yeo In-hyeong, yet another high school classmate of Kim’s, planned the specifics of the operation,” Park claimed, suggesting that it was “clear that this plan was conceived to offer a pretext for the invocation of martial law.”

A reference document on the operation of martial law troops and a joint investigation headquarters issued in November under the orders of Yeo, made public by the Democratic Party on Sunday, show that the Defense Counterintelligence Command reviewed the possibility of the simultaneous declaration of martial law and united defense to execute military responses and control public order and security in the event of a crisis, such as armed conflict with North Korea.

The document claimed that martial law and united defense could be declared simultaneously in the case of “enemy infiltration, provocation and domestic circumstances.”

According to current law, martial law is to be declared “in time of war, incident or other equivalent national emergency,” while united defense — a way of consolidating the country’s defense elements under a unified command — should be declared to respond to the “enemy’s infiltration, provocation, or threat of infiltration or provocation.” Both must be declared by the president.

Before publicizing the contents of the document, Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Ki-heon claimed to have received information on how, only one week prior to the declaration of martial law, Kim had ordered Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairperson Adm. Kim Myung-soo to “fire warning shots before striking launch sites of North Korea’s trash-filled balloons” if any such balloons were seen floating in South Korean skies.

For that to happen, South Korean soldiers would have to attack North Korea’s southwestern Hwanghae region, where the trash balloons are being sent from, which could easily escalate into a limited war.

In response, the Joint Chiefs of Staff denied allegations about such orders on Saturday, claiming that “no orders intending to escalate conflict took place.” However, it did not deny the discussions on targeting launch sites, saying, “The military conducts discussions on various operational situations from time to time.”

According to military officials, Kim Yong-hyun expressed a desire to strike the launch sites of North Korea’s trash balloons, but Kim Myung-soo responded by saying that such a move would be inconsistent with the current response policy, which stipulates that such strikes should only take place in case of tangible harm.

In September, as trash-filled balloons continued to cross the border, the Joint Chiefs had said that the South Korean military would take “decisive military action if it was determined that serious damage to our national security has occurred or if North Korea crosses a line.”

The Joint Chiefs said they were unable to confirm information in response to questions concerning the unmanned drones supposedly flown into Pyongyang.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter