"I Jumped the Wall, but I Was One Second Late"...Kim Min-seok Releases CCTV Footage Amid Controversy Over Martial Law Vote Absence

[Financial News] Kim Min-seok, former Prime Minister, directly addressed controversy over his failure to attend the vote on the motion calling for the lifting of emergency martial law on Dec. 3 by releasing closed-circuit television footage showing his entry into the National Assembly at the time. Kim said, "I did not skip the vote. I was late by just one second."
Kim, who is running in the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leadership race, appeared on the YouTube channel "Kim Eo-jun's News Factory" on the 8th and laid out what happened during the martial law vote, along with his position on the party leadership contest.
The broadcast also aired National Assembly CCTV footage from the early morning of Dec. 4 last year. The video showed Kim, with help from citizens, climbing over the National Assembly wall and running toward the main building in search of the entrance to the plenary chamber.

He said that all the doors to the plenary chamber were locked, so he entered through the Speaker of the National Assembly's private entrance, but by then the vote had already ended.
Kim said, "I was one second late for the vote. The moment I sat down, then-party leader Lee Jae Myung told me, 'I just pressed it.'"
He also gave a detailed explanation for why he arrived late.
He said, "I was sleeping after taking cold medicine when an aide knocked on my door and told me what was happening. There was a black sedan parked in front of my home in Singil-dong, as if someone were trying to arrest me, and it took time to move away from it." He added, "At the time, I thought I could die if I was caught."

He also said, "I contacted Professor Paik Tae-woong in Hawaii, United States, and asked for a constitutional and legal review. I received a statement saying the martial law amounted to insurrection, and I shared it first in the lawmakers' group chat." He added, "The Gwangju Democratization Movement came to mind, so I thought we needed to inform people overseas as well, and I also requested an English statement."
The motion calling for the lifting of emergency martial law on Dec. 3 was put to a vote around 1 a.m. on Dec. 4 last year and passed unanimously with all 190 lawmakers present voting in favor at 1:03 a.m.
Kim also clarified the meaning of the phrase "self-centered politics," which he used during the party leadership race.
Regarding remarks aimed at his rival, former party leader Jung Cheong-rae, he explained, "At the time, the DPK's approval rating was 20 to 25 percentage points lower than the president's, and our local election results also fell short of expectations." He said the phrase came from a process of assessing that situation coldly.

y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter