Roh Sang-won, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Command, is transferred to the custody of prosecutors by the Seoul Seobu Police Station on Dec. 24, 2024, after being detained on suspicions of involvement in the Dec. 3 martial law fiasco. (Yonhap)

A personal notebook kept by a former defense intelligence commander who was arrested on charges of helping plot the insurrection on Dec. 3 contained specific action plans to arrest “500-or-so people,” according to the Hankyoreh’s investigation.

The list of targets included not only authorities from the political opposition, but also “leftist” judges and celebrities, while the notebook highlighted how the individuals would be “collected” and sent to detention centers. 

The notebook also brings to light the former commander’s aims of helping President Yoon Suk-yeol secure long-term rule by “flattening all leftists forces to the ground before the next presidential election.”

The Hankyoreh obtained the notebook of former Defense Intelligence Command leader Roh Sang-won. Our examination of its content on Thursday found that its 70 pages included the identities of 500 individuals and groups to be picked up in the “first roundup.” Among those listed were “30-50 [lawmakers] from Yeouido,” “100-200 journalists, etc,” “the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions,” “the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union,” “Minbyun-Lawyers for a Democratic Society,” and “self-serving judges.”

The agents of the various arrest operations were to be divided into groups of five to seven and use buses or cars for transport. The notebook also specifies the names and roles of military officers who participated in the insurrection: “Yeo: specifying personnel for the operation, writing the list of targets for arrest,” “Park An-su, Gyeryongdae [military HQ]: Support for collection areas and combat units.”

Yeo In-hyeong, the former chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, has been accused of reading the arrest list to Hong Jang-won, former first deputy minister of the National Intelligence Service, and Cho Ji-ho, commissioner general of the National Police Agency. The first two groups of arrested individuals were to be taken in by the Defense Security Command, while the third to tenth groups would be handled by the police, according to Roh’s notes.

Roh Sang-won, the former head of the Defense Intelligence Command, is transferred to the custody of prosecutors by the Seoul Seobu Police Station on Dec. 24, 2024, after being detained on suspicions of involvement in the Dec. 3 martial law fiasco. (Kim Young-won/Hankyoreh)

The majority of the individuals whose names appear in notebook can also be spotted in the list of politicians who were to be arrested: Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung, Democratic Party lawmaker Jung Chung-rae, former Supreme Court Justice Kwon Soon-il, former Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk and journalist Kim Ou-joon. Former President Moon Jae-in, Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok and writer and commentator Rhyu Si-min were also on the list. 

The list also featured Democratic Party lawmakers Seo Young-kyo, Ko Min-jung, Youn Kun-young, Choo Mi-ae and Park Beom-kye, former Blue House chief of staff Noh Young-min and Judge Yoo Chang-hun, who dismissed prosecutors’ request for a warrant to arrest Lee Jae-myung in September 2023.

The note “Colonel → head of the Marine Corps internal investigation team” seems to refer to former Marine Col. Park Jeong-hun, who headed the internal investigation team over the death of Cpl. Chae, who died in a flooding rescue mission in 2023. Comedian Kim Je-dong and former soccer star Cha Bum-kun were also mentioned in the notebook as individuals to be arrested.

Ropes were to be used when rounding up the A-list targets, who were “not to be lumped together, but dispersed among others before being sent to the detention facilities.” A hard-line approach was specifically advised for “left-wing” judges, prosecutors and high-ranking officials at liberal broadcasters — “Use thugs from the Kim Du-hwan [a misspelling of Kim Du-han] era to crush the lefties.” 

Sentences suggesting plans to kill were also present in the notebook: “Use explosives in the sleeping quarters of the barracks,” “Need confirmed kills,” “Specific area of the prison for inmates dedicated to food, water, chemicals.”

The notebook also delineated specific spaces to be used for the detainment of the targets. The so-called “collection areas” included “Oeum-ri, Hyeon-ri, Injae, Gangwon Province’s Hwacheon, Yanggu, Ulleung Island, Mara Island, and areas in front of the Civilian Control Line.” Prosecutors and the police believe that these areas were chosen for their proximity to the North Korean border and the various military bases and facilities they housed.

Plans to contact North Korea and use it as instruments for this scheme were also written in the notebook. Dubbed an “unofficial plan,” Roh wrote about “what we would offer and security measures we need to take in case of North Korean contact.” Sentences that read, “Outsourcing torpedo attacks,” “Provoking the North to attack near the NLL or sinking ships before the North captures them for trespassing, etc,” indicate that there were plans to embroil North Korea in the plot.

The notebook also included sentences that seemed to detail follow-up action to the invocation of martial law — “Constitution, amendments to law,” “Plans for presidents to stay in office for three terms,” “Successor?” Such sentences lead authorities to believe that Roh attempted to spearhead attempts to amend the Constitution so Yoon could stay in power for three terms. 

Roh’s notebook suggests that thorough planning for this operation began following the April 2024 general election. The notebook differentiates between the periods before and after the election, stating, “Enacting laws has been made difficult since the general election. We’ll force through and uproot all evil to get rid of the core of the problem.”

There is also evidence to suggest that he intended for martial law to continue for at least a month. While Yoon claims that the declaration was nothing more than a wake-up call, arguing that there can be no such thing as a “two-hour-long insurrection,” the notebook shows that those carrying out the plan were running on different instructions. 

Roh gave a statement to the police claiming that he merely “wrote down everything that former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun told me.” As evidence points to how Kim, who faces criminal trial for his integral role in the insurrection, informed his subordinates that “Roh’s orders are my orders,” further investigations into Roh’s notebook are imperative to determine whether the notebook’s contents were translated into the planning of the martial law debacle.

By Bae Ji-hyun, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]