Yoon ’s legal adviser denies insurrection charges

Dec 20, 2024, 10:08 am

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Seok Dong-hyun, a lawyer who is involved in forming President Yoon Suk-yeol’s legal defense team, speaks in front of the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office in Seoul on Dec. 19, 2024./ Source: Yonhap News

AsiaToday reporter Kim Hyung-joon

A lawyer for President Yoon Suk-yeol on Thursday denied the president used terms like “arrest” or “drag down” lawmakers from inside the National Assembly building to stop them from voting down the decree on Dec. 3, adding that the state affairs were so devastating that he declared the martial law.

“Fewer than 300 unarmed soldiers were sent to the National Assembly after Yoon declared martial law,” Seok Dong-hyun said in a news conference in front of the Seoul High Court. “The president explicitly ordered them to avoid any clashes with citizens, and I think that includes officials from the National Assembly,” he added.

“The president basically declared emergency martial law through a press conference before the people and the entire world,” the lawyer said. “What kind of insurrection involves someone saying, ‘I am going to stage an insurrection?’ and what kind of insurrection is dropped after two or three hours because the National Assembly ordered it?”

Citing Yoon’s expertise in criminal law, Seok stressed that Yoon recognized the situation at the time as a national emergency, and therefore his martial law cannot constitute insurrection.

President Yoon’s side is preparing to form an optimal defense team to respond to the investigation on emergency martial law and the impeachment trial of the Constitutional Court. Seok explained that legal responses and positions related to legal principles would be revealed soon after the formation of the defense team.

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