President Yoon Suk Yeol claims martial law was necessary to 'alert the public' in final defense

President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers his final statement at the 11th and last hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Tuesday evening. [CONSTITUTIONAL COURT]

 
President Yoon Suk Yeol insisted he declared martial law to alert the public about the “all-powerful” Democratic Party (DP), and not to suppress democracy, during his final argument at the 11th and last hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
 
The court is likely to decide within two weeks whether to dismiss or uphold the National Assembly’s impeachment motion against him.
 
In his hour-long statement, which began a little past 9:00 pm, the president said the purpose of his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3, 2024, was to “alert the people of a national crisis” that he claimed was precipitated by antistate forces.
 
Yoon and his lawyers have argued that he was compelled to declare martial law because of his conflict with the National Assembly, which is controlled by the DP, and its repeated motions to sack his ministers and cut the annual budget.
 
He also claimed he had achieved his objective of warning the public and said it was “absurd” to think that he would try to issue a similar decree given that “so many people have become aware of the situation facing the country.”
 
He apologized for causing widespread concern but insisted it was necessary to draw attention to the DP’s actions.
 
These comments, which alluded to the almost daily rallies outside the court by supporters calling for his reinstatement, were the only signs from an otherwise defiant president that he had erred by declaring martial law.
 

Related Article

• Lawyers for Yoon, Assembly face off in impeachment trial's final arguments

 
Yoon claimed that “spies and external forces intent on encroaching on our sovereignty are working with internal antistate forces to seriously threaten our security” by use of “fake news and fabricated polls.”
 
He also claimed that North Korea had interfered in South Korean elections through the DP, repeating his belief that the party’s overwhelming victory in last year’s general election had come about through voting fraud.
 
Though the court examined claims of election tampering that had been raised by Yoon’s side during the impeachment trial, no such evidence has come to light.
 
Yoon mentioned the word “spies” 25 times throughout his statement, which ran approximately 77 pages in length.
 
The president doubled down on his previous argument that he only ever meant to declare martial law for a short time and communicated this intent to former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.
 
“From the beginning, I made it clear that the purpose of martial law was to appeal to the public. I also said that the martial law will not last long because the National Assembly's demand to lift martial law will follow quickly,” he said.
 
Yoon also pushed back against former Special Warfare Command chief Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun’s testimony that the president ordered him to send soldiers to drag lawmakers out from the Assembly to prevent them from reaching the quorum to hold a vote rescinding his decree.
 
“If the Assembly hadn’t reached the quorum, it would have made more sense [for me] to try and stop more lawmakers from entering the building rather than dragging out the ones already inside,” he said.
 
The president further denied that he failed to hold a Cabinet meeting in line with legal procedure just before declaring martial law.
 
Yoon said he explained the situation to Cabinet members as Kim handed out copies of the decree along with outlines of government policy.
 
“After reaching the quorum, the actual Cabinet meeting lasted 5 minutes, but we had already discussed [the decree] adequately by that point.”
 
He also claimed a Cabinet meeting prior to declaring martial law “cannot take place like a regular meeting” due to the need to “maintain security and reduce confusion.”
 

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]