South Korean President Yoon Suk-yul, who is facing impeachment, denied on Tuesday (January 21) during a hearing at the Constitutional Court that he had ordered the military to forcibly remove lawmakers from the parliament to prevent them from voting to reject last month’s martial law declaration.
According to reports from the Yonhap News Agency, Yoon Suk-yul appeared at the third hearing of the impeachment trial in the afternoon local time. It was reported that a sitting president facing impeachment trial personally appearing in court is a first in South Korea’s constitutional history.
Yoon Suk-yul announced martial law on December 3, sending troops and police to surround the parliament. However, despite this, enough lawmakers managed to enter the parliament and unanimously voted to reject his martial law decree, forcing Yoon Suk-yul’s cabinet to lift the decree in the early hours of the next day.
On December 12, Yoon Suk-yul delivered a public speech explaining in detail that the main reason for his emergency martial law declaration was the malicious obstruction of national governance by the opposition Democratic Party. One of the purposes of this martial law was to investigate election fraud. He also mentioned threats to national security from Chinese Communist spies.
As a conservative, Yoon Suk-yul insisted that the deployment of troops was not to obstruct the functioning of the parliament but to send a warning to the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party, using its majority in parliament, obstructed Yoon Suk-yul’s policy agenda, weakened his budget proposals, and impeached several of his senior officials.
When he announced martial law, Yoon Suk-yul accused the parliament of being a “nest of criminals,” obstructing government affairs, and pledged to eliminate “shameless followers of North Korea and anti-national forces.”
The military commander sent to the parliament had a different stance from Yoon Suk-yul. Army Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-keun testified in court that Yoon Suk-yul had called him directly, asking his unit to “quickly break the door, drag out the lawmakers inside,” but Kwak Jong-keun claimed he did not follow the order.
Acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Moon Hyungbae asked Yoon Suk-yul if he had ordered the commander to pull out the lawmakers, to which Yoon Suk-yul replied that he did not do so.
Regarding the accusation of deploying the military to prevent the parliament from lifting the martial law decree, Yoon Suk-yul stated that a parliamentary vote cannot be obstructed, saying, “If I had interfered with the vote, I don’t think I could bear the consequences.”
Moon Hyungbae asked Yoon Suk-yul if he had written a note to Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok requesting the preparation of the National Emergency Legislative Budget, which Yoon Suk-yul also denied.
The Constitutional Court is expected to decide by June at the latest whether to formally remove or reinstate Yoon Suk-yul as president. However, observers believe that the court’s ruling may come sooner.
Furthermore, law enforcement agencies are investigating whether Yoon Suk-yul and others are involved in treason, abuse of power, and other crimes related to the martial law decree. According to South Korean law, the mastermind of a treason offense could face life imprisonment or the death penalty.