South Korean Army chief of staff told lawmakers Thursday he did not know of President Yoon Suk Yeol's plan to impose martial law before the president's televised address to the nation late Tuesday.

Gen. Park An-su was named martial law commander in the military decree that came shortly after the president’s announcement.

Park said he realized he would be assuming the role of martial law commander at the meeting of key commanders that followed.

“The defense minister said at the meeting that the Army chief of staff would be martial law commander. That is when I learned about what was going on,” he said.

Despite having been made martial law commander, Park said he was unaware of troops being deployed to the National Assembly.

Troops surrounded the Assembly building on the night of the martial law declaration as lawmakers struggled to get inside.

“I don’t know who made the decision to have troops enter the parliament. I was not aware of it,” Park said.

Park said he made his resignation offer Wednesday to former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, whose resignation Yoon has accepted.

The Democratic Party claims some commandos of the special forces were deployed to the National Assembly without their knowledge.

According to Democratic Party Rep. Park Sun-won, who was National Intelligence Service deputy director, elite commandos of the 707th Special Mission Group, tasked with secret missions, were among the troops that broke into the Assembly on Tuesday night.

The Democratic Party lawmaker said he has testimony from some of the commandos that they did not know they would be landing at the National Assembly until they disembarked from the helicopters. They were told they were on a North Korea-related mission, according to the lawmaker.

The Army chief of staff said he does not know whether the claims made by the Democratic Party lawmaker are true.