Four current and former military officials meet just hours before the declaration of martial law.
A CCTV video capturing former President Yoon Suk-yeol's last-minute meeting with former intelligence chiefs and current and former military officials at a fast-food restaurant in Ansan has been released.
On the 19th, JTBC’s “Newsroom” reported on the footage of the so-called "Lotteria martial law simulation."
The video shows former Intelligence Commander Noh Sang-won and others arriving sequentially at the establishment in the afternoon of December 3 last year, gathering around a small table for discussions. This meeting took place just six hours before President Yoon declared martial law.
Clear indications of a 'simulation' with secure phones and A4 paper.
At around 2:40 PM, the first to arrive, former Commander Noh, surveyed the restaurant before taking a seat with two mobile phones in hand. One of these is believed to be a “secure phone” handed to him by former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun.
Ten minutes later, former head of the Ministry of National Defense’s investigation division Kim Yong-gun joined them, followed by former Army Armored Brigade Commander Koo Sam-hwa and former Defense Ministry's Transfer of Wartime Operational Control Task Force leader Bang Jeong-hwan, with all four present by 3:08 PM.
According to police investigations, former Commander Noh referenced the Democratic Party's impeachment movements and reportedly expressed sentiments such as, “Is this a just world?” Former Chief Kim stated that Noh wrote down the names of polling agencies on an A4 piece of paper, raising suspicions of opinion manipulation.
Koo Sam-hwa mentioned that Noh used terms like “secure the election commission” and “secure the server.” Bang Jeong-hwan revealed that former Commander Noh had presented a document from the joint investigation team, which specified “Commander Koo Sam-hwa, Deputy Commander Bang Jeong-hwan.”
The 'simulation' that led to the martial law declaration.
This meeting lasted about one hour, after which former Chief Kim Yong-gun left first, and the remaining three followed shortly afterwards. Just six hours later, former President Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law, and the martial law forces were deployed to the Central Election Management Committee as per the plans cited by former Commander Noh.
The release of this video has reaffirmed that the so-called “Lotteria simulation” was not merely a private meeting but one where concrete execution plans were discussed.
Image source: jtbc
