Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday that nothing actually happened regarding his martial law decree, denying allegations that he ordered military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament in an attempt to prevent them from blocking its imposition.
Yoon made the claim while attending the fifth formal hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul.
The National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon over his shocking, albeit short-lived, imposition of martial law on December 3. Yoon was indicted over charges of leading an insurrection and has been under arrest.
Yoon is also alleged to have sent military troops to the National Assembly to keep lawmakers from voting down the martial law declaration and to have planned to arrest key political figures.
“Looking into the case, noting actually happened. But there is talk of me making an instruction of the sort. I feel like we are chasing the moon’s shadow on a lake,” Yoon said.
“You would know the true nature of this case if you saw it based on common sense.”
Yoon claimed that dragging lawmakers from parliament could not have been possible as there are thousands of civilians in the National Assembly compound and troops were withdrawn after martial law was lifted.
During Tuesday’s session, Lee Jin-woo, former head of the Capital Defence Command, said he had not received orders from Yoon or then Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun to prevent lawmakers from voting to lift martial law.
Lee reportedly told prosecutors earlier that Yoon ordered him to instruct troops to carry out lawmakers from inside the National Assembly building on the day martial law was imposed, “firing guns and breaking down doors” if necessary.
Lee, who was accused of involvement in the martial law imposition and is currently under arrest, was called as a witness by the National Assembly’s legal team.
The parliamentary team has been acting as the prosecutor in the trial on whether to uphold or reject the Assembly’s impeachment of Yoon, Yonhap news agency reported.
Asked if Kim’s order to send troops to parliament was legal, Lee said he still believed it was legitimate in accordance with the Martial Law Act.
Lee, however, refused to testify further.
“I myself am involved in a criminal case and a process is under way to determine whether to accept or deny the prosecution’s report,” Lee said, referring to his own trial on charges he played a key role in an insurrection.
“I am aware it is a serious and important situation, but please understand that I am restricted considerably,” he said, suggesting his answers could work against him.
Yeo In-hyung, former head of the Defence Counterintelligence Command, also attended the session as a witness but refused to testify.
Yeo allegedly received orders from Kim to arrest and detain opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and then ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon, among others.
Hong Jang-won, former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, also attended the hearing. He has told lawmakers that he received a phone call from Yoon instructing him to “round them up and get rid of them.”
Yoon has defended his actions as a “warning” to the opposition party while denying giving orders to arrest politicians.
(IANS)
