A general military court issued an arrest warrant for Maj. Gen. So Gang-won, who served as the chief of staff of the Defense Security Command (DSC), for alleged involvement in monitoring the bereaved families of victims of the 2014 ferry disaster.
He is the first figure to be taken into custody since a military probe team investigating the wrongdoings of the now-disbanded DSC was launched in July.
The defense ministry on Thursday returned two controversial senior members of the scandal-ridden military intelligence command to their original Army base, in a disciplinary step aimed at reforming the unit long dogged by allegations of political interference.
The return of Maj. Gen. So Gang-won and Brigadier Gen. Gi Woo-jin is in line with President Moon Jae-in‘s order to send all Defense Security Command (DSC) members suspected of any illegal activities back to their original bases.
„The plan for armed crackdown on candlelight protests has been confirmed to be true,“ the group said. „This is clearly a self-coup d‘etat plan and all involved in this are believed to have committed the crime of conspiracy to commit rebellion.“
The martial law plan, which calls for seizing regions with tanks and armored vehicles and crackdowns on civilians with paratroopers, is similar to the military‘s bloody crackdown of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju, the group said.