Yoon's impeachment trial heads into final arguments on Tuesday
Published: 23 Feb. 2025, 18:48
Updated: 24 Feb. 2025, 09:57
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI
![President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the 10th hearing of impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 20. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/24/9d9019bc-d080-4b46-b95e-573aa0777b59.jpg)
President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the 10th hearing of impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 20. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
Lawyers for President Yoon Suk Yeol and the National Assembly are due to make their final arguments regarding the legality of his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and related allegations at the 11th and final hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
Both sides are expected to address the events leading up to Yoon’s declaration of martial law, the authorship of the controversial decree, suspicions that he intended to prevent the National Assembly from convening and the entry of troops into the National Election Commission’s (NEC) offices.
Other points of contention are whether the president ordered the arrest of high-profile politicians and directed the military to forcibly remove lawmakers from the legislature, where they gathered to hold a vote rescinding his decree.
Lawyers for the National Assembly’s impeachment committee, which is acting as the prosecution in the case, met Saturday to discuss how they will argue in Tuesday’s hearing.
Their final argument is expected to highlight Yoon’s apparent failure to observe the legally required steps for declaring martial law, such as formally consulting his Cabinet and notifying the legislature.
The president’s lawyers, by contrast, have argued that he did discuss his impending decree with the Cabinet, with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun testifying at the fourth impeachment hearing on Jan. 23 that some ministers supported Yoon’s decision.
![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. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/24/50ce8287-6263-4767-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. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]
Kim’s testimony was contradicted at the 10th impeachment hearing on Thursday by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, himself impeached by the parliament, who said he could not recall anyone at the meeting speaking in favor of declaring martial law.
At the heart of the impeachment case is whether Yoon’s decree violated the Constitution.
The Constitution stipulates that the president can declare martial law in cases of “national emergencies,” such as war or large-scale disasters, when “the use of troops is necessary for military purposes or to maintain public order.”
While the National Assembly’s representatives are likely to argue that those conditions were absent on Dec. 3, 2024, the president’s lawyers are expected to argue that the legislature’s repeated attempts to impeach his ministers and cut the national budget left him with little choice but to make what many view as a radical decision to break the country’s political gridlock.
The president’s lawyers have further claimed that Yoon was within his rights to declare martial law given suspicions of election fraud in last year’s general election, though NEC Secretary General Kim Yong-bin said at the ninth hearing on Feb. 18 that no such signs were detected.
Another key point of contention between the two sides is whether Yoon intended to impose a long-term ban on political activity and ordered troops to prevent lawmakers from overturning his decree.
Although the National Assembly was surrounded by some 1,500 soldiers on the night of the martial law declaration, 190 lawmakers from the liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its allies as well as the conservative camp succeeded in gathering inside the legislature and voted unanimously in favor of lifting the decree at around 1 a.m. on Dec. 4, 2024.
Yoon agreed to terminate martial law at 4:20 a.m., over three hours after the vote.
The president and his lawyers have argued he intended to impose martial law for “half a day” at most in order to send a “warning” to the DP-controlled legislature.
He has also claimed he had no intent to use lethal force to carry out his decree, arguing that troops were only present at the National Assembly to maintain order and public safety.
Yoon’s decree controversially included a blanket prohibition on political activities by parties and the legislature, even though the Constitution does not allow the president to prevent the Assembly from meeting even under martial law.
Under questioning from the president himself, Kim testified that he drafted Yoon’s martial law decree and mistakenly added the section about suspending the legislature while referring to past examples that were enacted before the current Constitution was promulgated.
Kim also said live ammunition was transported to the legislature but not distributed to individual soldiers.
However, the National Assembly’s representatives are expected to argue that the decree lasted under six hours only because lawmakers were able to overcome the military’s blockade of the parliament building.
![Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, former head of the Capital Defense Command, speaks during President Yoon Suk's fifth impeachment trial hearing at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 4. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/24/579afa10-f824-45cf-a6b4-a23c71d367d2.jpg)
Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, former head of the Capital Defense Command, speaks during President Yoon Suk's fifth impeachment trial hearing at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 4. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]
The Assembly’s lawyers have also argued that the president fully intended to use force to disperse lawmakers, pointing to the prosecutors’ interrogation records of former Capital Defense Command chief Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo and National Police Agency head Cho Ji-ho.
According to domestic media reports, Lee told prosecutors that Yoon ordered him to “break down the door” of the legislature “and drag them out.”
Lee is also said to have told prosecutors that the president directed him to “shoot if necessary.”
However, Lee testified he could not recall Yoon issuing such commands during the fifth impeachment hearing on Feb. 4.
![Former Army Special Warfare Command chief Kwak Jong-keun speaks at the sixth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 6. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/24/9621a265-6d8f-4075-9d41-ebf478956caf.jpg)
Former Army Special Warfare Command chief Kwak Jong-keun speaks at the sixth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 6. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]
Gen. Yeo In-hyung, former chief of the Army’s Defense Counterintelligence Command, said at the same hearing that he received orders to mobilize the military not from the president, but from then-Defense Minister Kim.
Lawyers for Yoon and the National Assembly are also likely to address suspicions that the president ordered military and intelligence officials on Dec. 3, 2024, to arrest DP leader Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik, then-People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon and 13 others.
Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), initially testified at the fifth impeachment hearing that he was ordered by Yeo to arrest Lee and others while standing outside NIS Director Cho Tae-yong’s official residence at 10:58 p.m. on the night in question.
![Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, responds to reporters' questions as he arrives at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 20. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/02/24/164c2ef2-a5a3-4848-8811-29025d103e86.jpg)
Hong Jang-won, the former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, responds to reporters' questions as he arrives at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Feb. 20. [NEWS1]
However, he said at the 10th hearing that Yeo gave him the names during a second phone call inside the spy agency’s headquarters at 11:06 p.m.
Hong said he mistook which was the call where he wrote down the list of people singled out for arrest.
The president’s lawyers are likely to cast doubt on Hong’s credibility as a witness by pointing to this change in his testimony during their final argument.
At least six of the court’s current eight justices must vote to uphold Yoon’s impeachment to effect his removal from office.
Should that happen, a presidential election must be held within 60 days.
BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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