SEOUL: South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been arrested and suspended from duties over his declaration of martial law, was in court again Tuesday for hearings that will decide whether to officially remove him from office.
The former prosecutor plunged democratic South Korea into political turmoil when he declared martial law on December 3, suspending civilian rule and sending soldiers to parliament.
His attempt to impose martial law only lasted around six hours as the opposition-led parliament defied troops to vote it down, and later impeached him over the move.
As part of a separate criminal probe, Yoon was detained in mid-January on insurrection charges, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be arrested.
He is being held in detention but has been attending hearings at the Constitutional Court, which will determine whether his impeachment is upheld.
If the court upholds the impeachment, an election must be held within 60 days to elect a new president.
Yoon suggested at the hearing that even if he had ordered the arrest of MPs to prevent them from voting down his decree, it would not legally matter because it had not been carried out.
“Debating whether I had given the (arrest) order or not when nothing had happened felt like chasing the shadow of the moon on the river,” he said.
At previous hearings, Yoon denied instructing top military commanders to “drag out” lawmakers from parliament, a claim refuted by opposition MPs.
He has argued that he did not believe the short-lived martial law was a “failed martial law,” but rather one that “ended a bit sooner” than he expected.
During Tuesday’s hearing, two former military commanders and an ex-spy agency official testified as witnesses.
Hong Jang-won, a former deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, testified before lawmakers earlier that he had been ordered to arrest politicians — a claim that contradicts Yoon’s denial of such an order.
Yoon, 64, was indicted in January, with prosecutors accusing him of being a “ringleader of the insurrection.”
He faces a separate criminal trial on those charges. Insurrection is not covered by presidential immunity.
If convicted, he faces jail time or the death penalty.
Yoon’s lawyers on Tuesday filed a motion to a court to cancel his detention, they told AFP, saying they had made the move “in consideration of illegality of probe” into his alleged crime.
The Seoul Central District Court, which is handling Yoon’s case, is expected to review the motion in coming days.
Yoon has been in detention since his January 15 arrest.