Yoon exits court early in contentious ninth impeachment hearing

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Yoon exits court early in contentious ninth impeachment hearing

Published: 18 Feb. 2025, 19:23 Updated: 19 Feb. 2025, 14:30

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae presides over the ninth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on Feb. 18. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to attend the ninth hearing of his impeachment trial but left shortly before it began, according to his legal defense team.

The president left after conferring with his lawyers and deciding his attendance was not necessary at the hearing, where representatives for Yoon and the National Assembly delivered their summary arguments regarding evidence and testimony presented thus far in the trial.

Yoon’s decision to return to the Seoul Detention Center, where he is being held on charges of masterminding an insurrection to replace the country’s democratic order with military rule by declaring martial law on Dec. 3, marks the third time he has not attended impeachment proceedings.

His lawyers fought unsuccessfully on Tuesday to convince the Constitutional Court to exclude evidence from his impeachment trial that he ordered the country's police chief to arrest lawmakers on the night he declared martial law.

The justices’ decision to examine the record of prosecutors’ interrogation of National Police Agency (NPA) Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho prompted one of Yoon’s lawyers to storm out of the hearing.

Cho, who was indicted last month on charges of abusing his authority, told prosecutors that the president commanded him repeatedly over the phone to arrest lawmakers gathered at the National Assembly to vote to overturn his martial law decree.

Cho also said then-Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Yeo In-hyung told him over the phone that night to arrest Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, then-People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon and 13 others.

At the hearing on Tuesday, a lawyer for Yoon reiterated an earlier argument by his defense team that the prosecution’s interrogation records of Cho and others accused of trying to implement martial law should not be admissible as evidence under the recently amended Criminal Procedure Act.

The law now prohibits interrogation records written by a prosecutor from being admitted as evidence by courts without the consent of the individual who was questioned.

Lawyer Cho Dae-hyun also argued that the NPA commissioner general’s continued absence from the impeachment proceedings makes it impossible for Yoon’s side to cross-examine him.

However, acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae dismissed Cho’s objection, noting that the decision to admit the record of the police chief’s interrogation was made at the trial’s fourth hearing, which took place on Jan. 23.

Moon also cited the justices’ joint opinion that an impeachment trial, while following most of the rules that apply to criminal trials, differs fundamentally in nature.

In response, Cho packed up his suitcase and left the courtroom.

In another decision that displeased Yoon’s lawyers, the Constitutional Court said that it will hold the 10th hearing of the president’s impeachment trial on Thursday as planned.

Yoon had asked the court to postpone the hearing because it was scheduled to take place the same day as the first preliminary hearing of his criminal trial on insurrection charges.

Moon said the impeachment trial hearing could take place on Thursday afternoon because Yoon’s criminal trial is due to open at 10 a.m. the same day at the Seoul Central District Court.

But in a minor concession to Yoon’s request for a postponement, Moon said the 10th hearing would take place at 3 p.m. on Thursday, one hour later than originally scheduled.

Impeached Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is the first witness set to speak on Thursday, with former National Intelligence Service First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won and NPA Commissioner General Cho to follow.

Cho notified the court on Tuesday that he would not be attending the 10th hearing due to health issues, marking his third refusal to appear during Yoon’s impeachment trial.

The court said it has asked prosecutors to forcibly bring in Cho.

Members of the National Assembly's impeachment investigation committee talk among themselves at the Constitutional Court on Feb. 18. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Lawyers for the National Assembly’s impeachment investigation committee, which is the prosecuting authority in the case, said Yoon failed in his presidential duty to uphold democracy and the rule of law by trying to suspend the legislature and the Constitution.

Yoon’s lawyers, on the other hand, argued that suspicions about voting fraud in the 2024 general election had compelled the president to declare martial law.

If the hearing scheduled for Thursday ends up being the last in Yoon’s impeachment trial, the Constitutional Court is likely to issue its verdict in the case by early or mid-March.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]