South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol appeared before the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to defend himself against impeachment charges, denying allegations that he ordered the military to forcibly remove lawmakers from the National Assembly during last month’s controversial attempt to impose martial law, Al Jazeera reports.
Yoon, 64, told the court that his career in public service had been guided by “a firm commitment to free democracy.” He spoke from a hospital bed after being transferred for medical reasons, according to the Yonhap news agency.
The impeached president has been incarcerated since last week, facing separate criminal charges of leading an insurrection through his attempt to enact martial law in early December. This move, which was quickly overturned by the National Assembly, sent shockwaves across the nation.
At the hearing, Yoon asserted that the special forces troops dispatched to the legislature on December 3 were not intended to disable the National Assembly or prevent it from blocking his martial law declaration. He argued that such actions would have triggered an “indefensible crisis.”
Yoon’s lawyers presented arguments defending his martial law declaration, claiming it was a necessary measure to address abuses by the opposition Democratic Party. They contended that the opposition’s actions had paralyzed the government and jeopardized the nation’s democratic and constitutional order.
The president’s legal team also disputed testimony from military commanders involved in the martial law declaration who claimed Yoon and his top aides had ordered the arrest of lawmakers who were political opponents.
The impeachment trial comes after the Democratic Party, joined by minority parties and 12 members of Yoon’s own People Power Party, secured a two-thirds majority vote to impeach Yoon on December 14. The Constitutional Court now faces the decision of whether to uphold the impeachment, which would result in Yoon’s removal from office and a snap election within 60 days.
Yoon did not attend the first two hearings last week, but the trial is set to continue regardless of his presence and is expected to last several months.
