South Korea’s President Yoon defends martial law call in impeachment trial news

Yun says that the special forces soldiers sent to the National Assembly on 3 December were not there to disable the legislature.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has rejected allegations in his impeachment trial that he ordered members of the military to drag lawmakers out of the National Assembly during last month’s short-lived martial law.

Yoon, 64, told the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Tuesday that he had served in public service with a “strong commitment to free democracy.”

He was then taken to a military hospital, Yonhap news agency reported.

The impeached president has been jailed since last week on separate criminal charges of leading a rebellion through his attempt to impose martial law in early December, a move that shocked the country and was voted down by the National Assembly. Overturned within a few hours.

Yoon said at the hearing that the special forces troops sent to the legislature on December 3 were not there to disable the National Assembly or prevent him from imposing martial law because he knew such action would lead to an indefinite crisis. Could have done.

He told the court, “In this country, Parliament and the news media are far more powerful, far better placed, than the President.”

If the court rules against Yoon, he will lose the presidency, and elections will be called within 60 days.

His lawyers presented arguments in defense of Yoon’s martial law declaration, saying it was intended to sound the alarm on abuses committed by the opposition Democratic Party.

He argued that the actions of the opposition have paralyzed the government and brought the country’s democratic and constitutional system to the brink of collapse.

Lawyer Cha Gi-hwan told the court, “The purpose of the decree was only to establish the format of martial law and it was never intended to be executed nor was it possible to execute it due to the possibility of conflict with higher-level laws.” Was.”

Cha also denied testimony from military commanders involved in the martial law declaration, who said that Yun and his top aides had ordered the arrest of some members of the legislature who clashed politically with the president.

The Democratic Party, which also included minority parties and 12 members of Yoon’s People Power Party, won a two-thirds majority vote on December 14 to impeach Yoon. The Constitutional Court is now deciding whether to uphold his impeachment.

Lawyers prosecuting the case, who were selected by lawmakers, described the comments made by Yoon and his lawyers as “grossly contradictory, illogical and vague, making them completely incomprehensible”.

“If they continue to avoid responsibility as they did today, it will only work against them in the impeachment trial and create even more frustration among the public,” he said Tuesday.

Yoon skipped the first two hearings last week, but the trial, which could last several months, will continue even in absentia.