Yoon Suk-yeol, the impeached president of South Korea, attended trial at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, according to local media. It marked his first attendance since the court kicked off his impeachment trial on January 14.
At court, Yoon denied accusations that he ordered military commanders to arrest the lawmakers who gathered in the parliament to make the president revoke his illegitimate declaration of martial law. However, Han Dong-hoon, the former leader of the ruling People Power Party, had confirmed after a meeting with the president that Yoon tried to arrest key opposition figures, including the speaker of the National Assembly and the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party. Han was also on the list for arrest, according to the lawmakers briefed by Hong Jang-won, former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service.
Some commanders who were involved in Yoon’s martial law plan also testified that they were ordered to pull out and arrest the lawmakers who had gathered in the plenary chamber to vote for a bill demanding that Yoon retract his declaration of martial law.
Kwak Jong-geun, former commander of the Army’s Special Warfare Command, testified to the National Assembly that he received calls from Yoon through secure phonelines that cannot be recorded. According to Kwak, Yoon twice ordered him to break the door and pull the lawmakers who were in the plenary chamber out.
Cho Ji-ho, the commissioner of the National Police Agency, also said that Yoon called him over the phone six times and ordered him to apprehend the lawmakers.
According to the South Korean Constitution, the National Assembly is the only entity that can legally make the president retract martial law.
Heavily-armed troops were deployed to the National Assembly with military vehicles and helicopters just minutes after Yoon declared martial law in a televised announcement. That action was clear proof that he ordered commanders to dispatch the martial law troops to the parliament to impede the vote, in violation of the constitution. The vote proceeded only because the dispatched troops stalled in conducting the ordered operations on site, and because citizens had gathered at the National Assembly to block the troops from entering the building.
Rather than apologizing for his wrongdoing, Yoon instead raised questions about how the National Assembly was so quick to pass a resolution to lift martial law. Yoon attempted to question whether the National Assembly observed the law when it passed the resolution. Yet Woo Won-shik, the speaker of the National Assembly, reportedly pushed back against opposition party lawmakers who urged him to swiftly begin the vote, saying “the procedures [for the vote] should be followed.” Woo was cognizant that there Yoon might seek to raise legal issues with the voting.
Indeed, no legal issue has been raised regarding the National Assembly’s procedures in passing the resolution – which was done within three hours after Yoon’s declaration of martial law.
Yoon should have retracted martial law immediately after the National Assembly vote, but he remained silent for three hours, creating conspiracies among the opposition that he was attempting to declare a second martial law. In this context, Woo and opposition lawmakers decided to stay in the plenary chamber even after Yoon officially announced his will to retract martial law in a televised announcement around at 4:27 a.m. local time
Some ministers – including Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is now the acting president – mentioned that they received notes from Yoon aides that specified the measures they should take under martial law. The notes were distributed during a Cabinet meeting held minutes before his declaration on December 3. Choi was ordered to secure a budget to establish an “emergency legislative body” that can overtake the power of the National Assembly.
However, Yoon denied writing the note. Instead, he pinned the responsibility on former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who reportedly oversaw the martial law troops’ operation, by saying such a note can be written only by the defense minister. Yoon later said he has not checked with Kim to verify this, as Kim has been in custody since December 8 on charges of collusion stemming from the martial law declaration.
Choi had said he received the note from an official after Yoon told him to read it.
Yoon himself is being detained as the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) investigates him for insurrection. Yoon has repeatedly refused to appear for questioning requested by the CIO. However, he attended the Constitutional Court trial to deliver remarks seeking to justify his declaration of martial law. Yoon seems to have decided he will engage with the cases against him only to deliver his statements to the court while refusing to cooperate with the investigations.
According to local media reports, Yoon portrayed himself as a lonely warrior protecting the country’s “liberal democracy” to the Constitutional Court judges. It is unclear whether the judges sympathized with his statements, which hinge on his biased view of the opposition as an “anti-state” force.
Tuesday’s impeachment trial ended just 103 minutes after it began.
The Constitutional Court trial came only two days after Yoon supporters rioted at the Seoul Western District Court, which had issued a fresh arrest warrant allowing investigators to hold Yoon in detention until February 7. The rioters shattered windows and gates of the courthouse while throwing cigarette ashtrays and vases toward police officers. They also searched for Cha Eun-kyeong, the judge who issued the arrest warrant, and trespassed into her office. Thankfully, Cha was not in the court when the riot broke out. She has reportedly requested police protection.
As pro-Yoon rioters showed their intention not to respect the country’s legal system and the rule of law, they may use violence against the Constitutional Court if it upholds the impeachment of Yoon in the weeks or months to come.