President Yoon Suk Yeol Denies Allegations of Ordering Martial Law Plan
In a dramatic turn of events at his impeachment trial yesterday, President Yoon Suk Yeol firmly denied the allegations of leading an insurrection, stating that he was just exercising his constitutional emergency powers.
During the hearing, which was the fifth session of the impeachment trial, President Yoon addressed the charges made by prosecutors and police investigators. In a statement, the president said, "Nothing actually happened in this case, yet there’s all this talk of ‘Was it ordered?’ ‘Was it received?’ It feels like chasing the reflection of the moon on the surface of a lake."
The president has long been accused of ordering an arrest squad targeting key political figures. However, his own defense and that of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun paints a different picture.
As per the reconstructed timeline released by President Yoon’s office, he frequently raised topics such as "emergency authority," "national emergency measures" and "martial law" with Kim at least seven times. Even before these events, President Yoon expressed his obsession with democracy and had long been suspicious of his enemies.
Kim Yong-hyun admitted to presenting details on the available military and police forces to support martial law declarations just hours before they occurred.
When asked about the nighttime curfew provision that was removed from the final draft martial law declaration, President Yoon denied ordering it to be removed. By 9 pm on the day of implementation martial law was declared at the presidential office.
According to prosecutors and investigators, President Yoon also personally called various senior officials several times before martial law was declared.
The drama ended with nine out of eleven cabinet ministers being present when president made his announcement and depart.
While President Yoon strongly denies any wrongdoing, prosecutors maintain that he is responsible for ordering an arrest squad targeting key political figures after the impeachment deadline of December 3 last year.