Yoon, who had his eyes closed for over 3 hours, says "Nothing happened... We must think based on common sense"

Yoon Attends 5th Impeachment Hearing
"Feels Like Chasing the Shadow of the Moon on a Lake"

President Yoon Suk-yeol said, "Looking at this incident, it felt like chasing the shadow of the moon floating on a lake, talking about whether orders were given or received when in fact nothing happened."

President Yoon Suk-yeol briefly closes his eyes while attending the 5th impeachment trial hearing held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on February 4, 2025. Photo by Joint Press Corps

On the 4th, attending the 5th hearing of the Constitutional Court impeachment trial, President Yoon spoke directly, saying, "For example, in cases where politicians were arrested or someone was dragged out, these are matters that actually occurred or are highly likely to occur in reality, and such issues are usually discussed in investigations or trials."

On that day, during the witness examination of former Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo and former Defense Counterintelligence Command Commander Yeo In-hyung, which lasted about three hours, President Yoon kept his eyes closed most of the time. This was quite different from the large hand gestures, body movements, and raised voice tone he showed during the 4th hearing when former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun appeared as a witness. After the witness examination of former Commander Lee, President Yoon was given the opportunity to make a statement and spoke for the first time that day.

President Yoon stated, "Since everyone's memory differs, I cannot say anything about what people say based on their own memories as president, but I want to say that if you look at it based on common sense, you should be able to understand the substance of the matter."

He continued, "As the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, I do not want to mix words about the testimonies of the excellent generals," but emphasized, "The overall gist of the statements is that about a dozen members of the Capital Defense Command barely entered the National Assembly, and in that situation, where they were not even armed with weapons, the Special Forces were also attacked with firearms and all came out." He added, "Is such a thing even possible based on common sense?"

On that day, before the witness examination, President Yoon's side also requested that the impeachment trial hearings be held once a week. Attorney Choi Geo-hoon, representing President Yoon, said, "The first criminal trial for the charge of rebellion is scheduled for the 20th, and the attorneys have to handle the trials where indictments have been filed, so it is realistically impossible to represent the trial," and requested, "Please proceed with the hearings once a week from now on." He also said, "The questioning of key witnesses is excessively restricted, so we hope you will allow as much as possible," and added, "Please make a sound judgment that is understandable according to law and conscience."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.