Ex-defense chief takes most of blame for Yoon's martial law decree during Constitutional Court hearing
Published: 23 Jan. 2025, 18:43
Updated: 23 Jan. 2025, 22:08
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, center, recites the witness oath as he takes the stand at the fourth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 23. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/23/1ebc2f3b-0a46-4337-8a16-f3c5eb88a464.jpg)
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, center, recites the witness oath as he takes the stand at the fourth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 23. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun testified before the Constitutional Court on Thursday that he wrote the martial law decree promulgated by President Yoon Suk Yeol last month.
Speaking at the fourth hearing of the president’s impeachment trial across from Yoon himself, Kim appeared to claim responsibility for the most controversial aspects of martial law, which Yoon declared late Dec. 3 but rescinded early Dec. 4, hours after lawmakers voted to overturn the order.
Kim, who was accused of playing a key role in executing the decree, was arrested on Dec. 8.
Under questioning from Yoon’s lawyers, Kim said he wrote the draft of the order based on past decrees and advised Yoon to declare martial law.
“The president was deeply worried about a powerful opposition party that was only interested in protecting its lawmakers from arrest, impeaching ministers and pursuing special counsel probes,” the former defense minister said, referring to the liberal Democratic Party (DP).
Kim testified he had ordered Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-geun to withdraw troops inside the legislature, but that Kwak misinterpreted the order as calling for the forced removal of lawmakers.
The former defense minister further claimed Yoon told him over the phone around midnight on Dec. 3 to allow lawmakers to enter the National Assembly building.
Kim also claimed responsibility for writing a memo suggesting the establishment of a temporary legislative body to bypass the National Assembly, whose activities would have been banned under the decree.
The former defense minister said he handed the note “via an aide” to Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is currently the country’s acting president.
According to Kim, his original draft of the martial law decree would have imposed a curfew, but he said those provisions were deleted after Yoon expressed concern that such restrictions would “cause too much inconvenience to civilians” and “were out of step with the times.”
![Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun speaks during the fourth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 23. The hearing marked Kim's first public appearance since he was arrested on Dec. 8 for his alleged role in executing Yoon's martial law decree. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/23/50ce8287-6263-4767-bfa3-b7b76fcc57d0.jpg)
Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun speaks during the fourth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 23. The hearing marked Kim's first public appearance since he was arrested on Dec. 8 for his alleged role in executing Yoon's martial law decree. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]
The former defense minister acknowledged that martial law forces deployed to the National Assembly were equipped with ammunition, but added that “individual soldiers did not carry live rounds.”
Kim also said Yoon intervened to stop troops from being deployed to the liberal DP’s headquarters.
Though Kim initially said he would not respond to questions from the National Assembly’s impeachment investigation committee, which is acting as the prosecution in Yoon’s trial, he reversed course after acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae told him that his credibility as a witness would be diminished if he did not submit to questioning by both sides.
In his subsequent testimony, Kim said the president raised no objections over the decree’s ban on all political activities, despite such restrictions on the National Assembly being illegal.
Under questioning by Yoon himself, Kim said the president was “less thorough than usual” in his review of the draft decree than other legislation proposed by his ministers.
Yoon’s legal team previously argued Kim wrote the draft based on old decrees that were issued when the president could dissolve the legislature.
The hearing took place the same day that the state anticorruption watchdog asked prosecutors on Thursday to indict Yoon on charges of masterminding an insurrection and abusing his official authority over his short-lived imposition of martial law.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) decided to hand the case to the state prosecution service in light of Yoon’s “continuous refusal to cooperate and defiance of the criminal justice system despite the serious nature of the charges,” according to CIO deputy chief Lee Jae-seung.
Yoon, who is being held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, has refused to attend all interrogations scheduled by the CIO except for the one that took place on Jan. 15, the day the agency took him into custody.
Even then, he remained silent over almost 11 hours of questioning by investigators.
He later rebuffed three consecutive attempts by the CIO to forcibly summon him for questioning since the Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant against him on Sunday.
The CIO consequently determined that transferring control of the investigation, instead of trying to question the impeached president, would allow prosecutors to “more effectively determine the truth” behind his martial law declaration and bring an indictment against him, according to Lee.
Only the state prosecution service has the power to indict a president.
In referring the case to prosecutors, the CIO also transferred all materials pertaining to the investigation, which thus far has amounted to more than 30,000 pages across 69 books.
The prosecution is expected to request a 10-day extension of Yoon’s arrest warrant and indict him around Feb. 5.
Much of the CIO’s investigation into Yoon and his impeachment trial has focused on uncovering why and how the president declared martial law and the steps he took to enforce his decree.
If the Constitutional Court upholds the National Assembly’s impeachment motion against Yoon, he will be immediately removed from office. An election to choose his successor must then be held within 60 days.
BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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