Colonel who ordered troops to halt at Mapo Bridge indicted on insurrection charges

The second comprehensive special prosecutor's team — tasked with investigating allegations left unresolved after the three earlier special counsel probes into insurrection, Kim Keon Hee and the Marine Corps death — indicted Cho Seong-hyeon, the former commander of the Capital Defense Command's 1st Security Group, on charges of performing an important role in insurrection on Wednesday.

The special prosecutor's team said Wednesday afternoon it had indicted Cho, a colonel, without detention. It also indicted without detention Kim Sang-hwan, former head of the Army headquarters legal affairs office, on insurrection-abetting charges, and Hong Chang-sik, former Defense Ministry legal affairs director, on dereliction of duty charges.

According to the special prosecutor's team, Cho, serving as 1st Security Group commander at the time of the Dec. 3, 2024, emergency martial law declaration, is accused of dispatching subordinate units to the National Assembly, assigning them the mission of entering and controlling the Assembly grounds, and relaying an order from then-Capital Defense Command chief Lee Jin-woo to "drag out the lawmakers."

Cho was also reported to have ordered his troops during the martial law to halt at the north end of Mapo Bridge — an episode widely referred to as the "Mapo Bridge retreat" — with the instruction "do not cross Mapo Bridge." The Defense Ministry awarded Cho and others commendations last year in connection with that episode, citing their defense of constitutional values. The indictment reverses a decision by the earlier insurrection special prosecutor, Cho Eun-seok, not to bring charges against Cho.

Cho maintains that his actions amounted to efforts to stop the insurrection. He says that shortly after first recognizing the unlawful nature of the orders — at around 12:52 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2024 — he recommended a review, deliberately withheld specific execution orders, directed the 2nd Area Unit to stop at the north end of Mapo Bridge and turn back, and ultimately persuaded the commander to approve a full withdrawal.

The special prosecutor's team indicted former legal affairs chief Kim on insurrection-abetting charges. According to the team, Kim is accused of boarding what has been called the "martial law bus" — a vehicle heading from Army headquarters at Gyeryong to Seoul in the early hours of Dec. 4, after the National Assembly voted to lift the emergency martial law declaration — under the direction of former Army Vice Chief of Staff Ko Hyeon-seok and others.

The bus reportedly carried Kim and 33 other Army headquarters staff members — 34 in total — and turned back about 30 minutes after departing. The team had initially considered applying charges of attempted performance of an important role in insurrection but ultimately settled on insurrection abetting. Prosecutors believe Kim boarded the bus intending to serve as head of the martial law command's legal affairs office.

Hong, the former legal affairs director, was indicted on dereliction of duty charges. According to the special prosecutor's team, Hong held a position responsible for interpreting defense-related laws and regulations, yet is accused of failing to advise the minister and vice minister that the martial law declaration was unconstitutional and unlawful and that they should neither support it nor deploy troops.

The special prosecutor's team decided to refer the case against former Vice Chief of Staff Ko to police. Ko is accused of being involved, immediately after the martial law declaration, in drawing up a list of deputy and office chiefs to be sent from the Army headquarters command and control center to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Yongsan, Seoul.

The special prosecutor's team, which wraps up its work on Sunday, concluded it would not be able to complete its investigation into Ko's insurrection-abetting case within the remaining time given the large number of people involved, and decided to hand the matter to the Korean National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters. Ko was removed from office by the Defense Ministry in December last year.