Cheumi Ae, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, is seen questioning at the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee audit held at the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, on October 8. The Democratic Party has raised suspicions that the Cyber Operations Command of the Ministry of National Defense was involved in the December 3 martial law incident.
On the 13th, the Democratic Party’s “Yoon Seok-youl Rebellion Investigation Team” announced that they received a tip indicating the Cyber Operations Command’s involvement in the martial law situation. It is reported that Jo Won-hee, Commander of the Cyber Operations Command, might have discussed the deployment of cyber hacking units with former Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung before the martial law declaration.
Based on the tip, the investigation team stated that on the day of the martial law declaration, December 3, at around 9 a.m., Commander Jo had a roughly 10-minute phone conversation with former Commander Yeo regarding the ‘900 Research Institute’, a cyber hacking unit under the Cyber Operations Command. It is presumed that they discussed how to analyze the server of the Central Election Commission if secured by martial law troops. Commander Jo was reportedly investigated as a reference by the Special Investigation Unit of the prosecution on November 11 concerning this call record.
The investigation team also raised questions about the process of replacing the commander of the Cyber Operations Command with Jo. The previous commander, Lee Dong-gil, a retired Rear Admiral, was replaced by Jo, a graduate of the Korea Military Academy, last May. The investigation team noted that “Commander Lee was replaced after only six months in his position,” adding that it seems unusual considering the usual term is 1-2 years.
The team claimed that the newly appointed Commander Jo frequently flaunted his close relationship with former Commander Yeo. Former Commander Jo served as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Operations Headquarters when former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun was the Chief of Operations Headquarters of the Joint Chiefs of Staff between 2015 and 2017. Former Minister Kim is from the 38th class, former Commander Yeo from the 48th class, and Commander Jo from the 51st class of the Korea Military Academy.
Furthermore, the team argued that recent cyber training conducted during the Ulchi Exercise last August, such as the “North Base Annihilation Drill” and “SNS Dominance Training”, might have been preparations for martial law. They suggested that the “North Base Annihilation Drill” involves retracing suspicious IPs, and the “SNS Dominance Training” involves acquiring control over anti-state groups managing platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and Telegram.
In conclusion, the investigation team urged the Joint Investigation Headquarters to conduct a thorough investigation into the allegations of the Cyber Operations Command’s involvement in the rebellion.