Ex-defense minister to take stand Jan. 23 in impeachment trial

Home > National > Politics

print dictionary print

Ex-defense minister to take stand Jan. 23 in impeachment trial

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, left, speaks to President Yoon Suk Yeol during a military event in October 2024. [YONHAP]

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, left, speaks to President Yoon Suk Yeol during a military event in October 2024. [YONHAP]

 
The Constitutional Court decided on Friday to put former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on the stand on Jan. 23 in his impeachment trial at the request of President Yoon Suk Yeol's side.
 
“As a result of the deliberation of the justices today, we have changed some of the witness examination dates,” said Cheon Jae-hyun, public relations officer of the Constitutional Court, at a regular press briefing on Friday. “We have set the date for the examination of witness Kim Yong-hyun for 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 23.
 
“Yesterday, the defendant's side made a request for this and we decided today to consider various circumstances during the deliberation and made the decision,” Cheon explained.
 
The Constitutional Court initially planned to first question five witnesses from the National Assembly, then proceed with questioning Kim on Feb. 6. However, Yoon’s side requested a change of dates, saying that Kim’s testimony should be heard first, and the court has accepted this request.
 

Related Article

Kim Hyun-tae, commander of the 707th Special Mission Group of the Army Special Warfare Command, who Yoon’s side requested as a witness, was also selected for additional questioning by the Constitutional Court.
 
The Constitutional Court will question Kim and Police Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho on Jan. 23, and Army Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo, Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung and former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Vice Director Hong Jang-won on Feb. 4.
 
Army Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-geun will appear on the witness stand on Feb. 6.
 
Cheon explained that if witnesses do not appear in court, “the Constitutional Court Act stipulates imprisonment or a fine for failing to appear without a justifiable reason, and the trial rules stipulate that they can be summoned.”
 
The Constitutional Court said that it is currently reviewing an expansion of the witness list to include the director of the NIS’s National Cyber Security Center and the election management officer and administrative officer of the 2020 general election, individuals Yoon’s side sought to add as witnesses.
 
The Constitutional Court also decided to accept Yoon's request for document transmission to secure documents related to the National Election Commission's security inspection by the presidential office, the NIS and the National Cyber Security Center.
 
A request for document transmission is a procedure to request that an institution that stores documents necessary for a trial send the documents. Usually, some of the materials obtained in this way are admitted as evidence upon a party's request.
 
The witnesses and document transmission requests by Yoon's side are largely interpreted to be support for the “election fraud theory” that the president's side claims was the primary justification for the declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)