Author: Hyunsu Yim and Joseph Campbell
SEOUL (Reuters) – Veteran South Korean broadcaster Kim O-joon said he left his home and went into hiding minutes after President Yun Seok-yeol declared martial law in a televised announcement last week.
Fearing for his life, Kim said he kept a low profile for 36 hours in a “distant place” even though Yun lifted martial law after it was voted down in parliament on Wednesday morning.
News you can trust and daily fun, right in your inbox
Experience it firsthand — The Yodel is your go-to source for daily news, entertainment and light-hearted stories.
“I thought I was going to die,” the broadcaster told Reuters in an interview at his studio in Seoul, where a security guard now stood outside.
While most of the public attention was on Parliament, where hundreds of MPs and staff faced off against police and special forces sent to prevent a vote on the proclamation, it was later revealed that soldiers were also heading to national elections Committee and Kim Jong-un’s studio, night.
Part of the military’s martial law declaration included a declaration that the media would be under government control, but left-leaning and anti-establishment Kim Jong Un appears to be the only media figure targeted.
Video footage provided to Reuters by Kim’s News Factory studio showed at least 20 martial law soldiers arriving with guns outside the studio building in central Seoul. However, he was home at the time and it was unclear whether soldiers were sent there as well.
The broadcaster hosts a weekday morning show on YouTube and has nearly 1.8 million followers.
“Two buses, a truck and a command vehicle… arrived at the office as well as several armed martial law troops who we captured on camera,” Kim said. “Apparently an arrest squad was operating and they were trying to break into our offices.”
Hong Jang-won, a former deputy chief of South Korea’s spy agency, testified to the parliamentary intelligence committee last week that Kim faces arrest warrants along with prominent politicians and union officials, according to panelist Kim Byung-kee.
The commander of South Korea’s Army Special Forces said on Tuesday that Yoon had ordered him to “drag” lawmakers out of parliament after he declared martial law.
Open up about bias
South Korea has struggled to contain the fallout from the president’s brief martial law attempt, but Kim O-joon said he hoped it would “further strengthen” the resilience of South Korea’s democracy.
“Perhaps this is the only time in history that Parliament lifted martial law after a few hours and citizens stopped their troops.”
Critics accuse Kim of favoring the main opposition Democratic Party.
King has said that being open about his biases means audiences know where he’s coming from.
He said he had been doing the same thing for more than two decades, explaining the news to his audience, but that Yin was leading “the worst administration” he had ever experienced.
Kim moved his show from state-funded TBS to YouTube last year after the conservative-run Seoul Metropolitan Government withdrew funding.
Under the conservative Yoon administration, South Korea fell from 47th to 62nd in the global press freedom index released this year by Reporters Without Borders.
Asked why he thought he was being targeted by martial law, Kim said he took it “personally.”
Yoon survived an impeachment vote on Saturday when most members of the ruling People’s Power party walked out of parliament.
However, Kim said it was only “a matter of time” before Yoon would be impeached.
“The impeachment was only briefly postponed. No one can stop the energy of these citizens, and eventually Yoon Seok-yeol will be brought to justice,” he said.
(Reporting by Hyunsu Yim; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
