Martial law was Yoon Suk Yeol’s answer to ‘legislative dictatorship’, insurrection trial hears

Thu, 20 Feb 2025, 06:03
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Lawyers for

Yoon Suk Yeol

have told a court in Seoul that the impeached president declared martial law in late 2024 to prevent the country becoming a “legislative dictatorship” controlled by his political opponents.

The claim came as Yoon became the first South Korean president to stand trial in a criminal case, brought over his short-lived declaration of martial law in early December.

Yoon, who attended Thursday’s hearing at Seoul central district court but did not speak, is accused of fomenting insurrection with the martial law order. The crime of insurrection carries a long prison sentence and, theoretically, could attract the death penalty, though South Korea has not carried out an execution since 1997.

Yoon’s lawyer, Kim Hong-il, condemned the “illegal probe” against the suspended president, arguing the “investigating body has no jurisdiction”.

“The declaration of martial law was not intended to paralyse the state,” Kim said at the hearing, which ended after just 13 minutes.

He said the martial law order had meant to “alert the public to the national crisis caused by the legislative dictatorship of the dominant opposition party, which had crippled the administration” – a reference to the Democratic party, which has a majority in the national assembly.

Yoon, a 64-year-old ultra-conservative who became president in May 2022, has been in prison since

he was arrested

last month after tense standoffs between the authorities and his personal security detail.

There was heavy security around the court building on Thursday, with the Yonhap news agency reporting that about 3,200 police officers had been mobilised.

Prosecutors have accused Yoon of being the “ringleader of an insurrection”. He has been suspended since parliament voted to impeach him in mid-December.

His lawyers have condemned the criminal investigation as illegitimate and challenged the legality of his indictment, arguing that it was within his power as head of state to declare martial law. They told reporters last week that it was “an act of governance and cannot be subject to judicial review”.

Separately, South Korea’s constitutional court is deliberating whether to formally remove Yoon from office after his

impeachment

by parliament. His 10th session in that case was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, a few hours after the hearing in his criminal trial.

Related:

Ladders, noodle stations and K-pop: how the arrest of South Korea’s president unfolded

Yoon’s future hangs in the balance. If the constitutional court sides with parliament, he will be permanently removed from office and a new president elected within 60 days.

Han Duck-soo, who was also impeached as acting president following Yoon’s suspension from office, and former senior intelligence official Hong Jang-won are expected to be called at Thursday’s impeachment hearing.

The head of South Korea’s national police agency, Cho Ji-ho – who is also on trial on insurrection charges related to the martial law decree – has also been called as a witness.

It was not clear on Thursday whether that impeachment hearing would be Yoon’s last before the constitutional court’s eight judges go behind closed doors to deliberate. That process could take a fortnight or more.

Previously impeached presidents Park Geun-hye and Roh Moo-hyun had to wait 11 and 14 days, respectively, to learn their fates.

Much of Yoon’s impeachment trial has centred on the question of whether he violated the constitution

by declaring martial law

, which is meant to be reserved for national emergencies or times of war.

His decree lasted only around six hours as the opposition-led parliament defied troops to vote it down. But it has plunged Asia’s fourth-biggest economy into

months of political turmoil, with protests

, two presidential impeachments and a surge of online disinformation by Yoon’s supporters.

The next hearing in Yoon’s criminal case is schedule for 24 March.

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