Suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol said on Tuesday South Korea had been facing an “existential crisis” when he declared martial law last year, remaining defiant and unapologetic as he faced the final day of impeachment hearings that could formally remove him from office.
Yoon’s short-lived suspension of civilian rule plunged democratic South Korea into political turmoil and he was removed from office by parliament in December.
The Constitutional Court in Seoul has held weeks of fraught impeachment hearing, with Tuesday’s proceedings the last before judges decide whether to formally remove Yoon from office over his disastrous martial law declaration.
Yoon, in his closing remarks, defended the December 3 declaration as a “proclamation that the nation was facing an existential crisis”.
“This was never a decision made for my personal benefit as Yoon Suk Yeol,” he told the court.
He said “external forces, including North Korea, along with anti-state elements within our society” were “working together to seriously threaten our national security and sovereignty”.
Opposition lawmaker Jung Chung-rae earlier urged the court to uphold the impeachment in an emotional closing statement recalling his torture at the hands of South Korea’s military government in the 1980s.
“Blindfolded with my underwear, I endured four hours of torture. Being alive was pain in itself,” Lee said, stopping for a few seconds to compose himself.
He urged the court to consider that “countless people would not have had their lives spared” if martial law had succeeded as Yoon had planned.
Tense proceedings
Yoon was not present for much of the day’s hearings.
In opening remarks, his defence team cited a 2024 US Supreme Court ruling, Donald Trump v. the United States, arguing that he cannot be punished for “exercising his core constitutional powers”.
That ruling “should be considered in the context of impeachment proceedings”, Yoon’s lawyer Lee Dong-chan said.
Opposition lawyer Lee Gum-gyu also spoke emotionally about his son, an active-duty soldier he said would have been forced to participate in Yoon’s martial law.
“As a citizen and a father, I feel a sense of rage and betrayal toward Yoon, who tried to turn my son into a martial law soldier,” he told the court.
A number of lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) were in attendance.
Proceedings were tense, with PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong heard swearing at an opposition lawyer.
Outside the court, pro-Yoon protesters chanted “Drop impeachment!”
Some held signs denouncing the Chinese Communist Party and North Korea, which some of Yoon’s supporters have accused, without evidence, of interfering in recent South Korean elections to the benefit of the opposition.
Others held signs saying “Stop the Steal”, echoing US President Trump’s false claims of voter fraud when he lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden.
Ruling expected soon
A verdict is widely expected in mid-March once the court adjourns.
Previously impeached presidents Park Geun-hye and Roh Moo-hyun had to wait 11 and 14 days, respectively, to learn their fates.
South Korea must hold a fresh presidential election within 60 days if Yoon is removed.
The 64-year-old has also been behind bars since he was arrested last month on charges of insurrection, for which he could be sentenced to life in prison or even face the death penalty. His trial began last week.
Much of the impeachment trial has centred on whether Yoon violated the constitution by declaring martial law, which is reserved for national emergencies or times of war.
The opposition has accused him of taking the extraordinary measure without proper justification.
Yoon’s lawyers have said he declared martial law to alert the country to the dangers of “legislative dictatorship” by the opposition.
A survey by polling company Realmeter released on Monday said 52 percent of respondents support Yoon’s formal removal from office.
In contrast, a Gallup poll released last week showed 60 percent in favour and 34 percent against his impeachment.
