Yoon's Side Claims "Constitutional Court Violating Law," Repeatedly Requests Han Deok-su and Hong Jang-won as Witnesses

Yoon's Legal Team Warns of "Serious Decision" if Unlawful Proceedings Continue
Expresses Discontent Over Dismissal of Witness and Verification Requests
Acting Chief Justice Moon Responds, "We Will Discuss It"

The side of President Yoon Seok-yeol, who has been voicing protests day after day regarding the procedure of the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial, has once again requested to summon Prime Minister Han Duck-soo as a witness. They also requested to summon former First Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Hong Jang-won, who testified at the hearing on the 4th, as a witness again. As a result, the total number of additional witnesses requested by President Yoon's side has increased to five.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is attending the 8th hearing of the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk-yeol held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 13th, waiting for his turn to speak. 2025.02.13 Photo by Joint Press Corps

On the 13th, Yoon Gap-geun, a lawyer for President Yoon, stated at the 8th hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial held at the Constitutional Court, "The Constitutional Court is currently conducting the trial in violation of explicit legal provisions, including the Constitutional Court Act," and added, "If the current proceedings continue, the defense team will have no choice but to make a serious decision."

He then requested again to summon Prime Minister Han, who had previously been dismissed by the Constitutional Court as unnecessary, as a witness. He also requested to summon former Deputy Director Hong again, who appeared at the previous hearing and testified about his phone conversations with President Yoon and the so-called 'politician arrest squad memo.'

In response, Acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae said regarding the witness requests from President Yoon's side for Prime Minister Han, former Deputy Director Hong, Kang Ui-gu, First Deputy Chief of the Presidential Secretariat, Park Kyung-sun, former Director of Seoul Eastern Detention Center, and Shin Yong-hae, Director of the Correctional Headquarters of the Ministry of Justice, "The court will decide on acceptance or rejection after deliberation."

Yoon's side strongly opposes the Constitutional Court's dismissal of witness and verification requests

On the same day, President Yoon's side strongly opposed the Constitutional Court's dismissal of the witness request for Prime Minister Han and the verification request regarding the number of voters related to the 'fraudulent election allegations' during the 7th hearing. Lawyer Yoon said, "Prime Minister Han knows about the causes of this emergency martial law, including situations that caused significant difficulties in performing administrative and judicial functions, but the court dismissed it on the grounds of irrelevance," and added, "There was no specific explanation, so we do not understand how it is considered irrelevant," raising his voice.

Regarding the dismissal of the verification request for the number of voters, he also protested, saying, "It was dismissed without reason even though it was the most effective way to resolve the suspicions," and "We do not know the reason for that either." Acting Chief Justice Moon dismissed Lawyer Yoon's remarks by saying, "We will discuss it," and proceeded with the scheduled questioning of National Intelligence Service Director Cho Tae-yong.

Subsequently, immediately after the questioning of Director Cho and President Yoon's remarks were concluded, President Yoon's side raised the issue of witness adoption again. Lawyer Kim Gye-ri said, "Former Commander of the Defense Security Command Yeo In-hyung testified after the witness questioning that he never made such a request to Hong Jang-won and distributed that to the media," and said this was submitted as evidence, but the prosecution side opposed it, denying its evidentiary value. Acting Chief Justice Moon asked what the point was, and Lawyer Kim said, "We are reapplying to summon (former Deputy Director Hong) as a witness without time restrictions as our main witness." Acting Chief Justice Moon pointed out, "Didn’t I say that the court would deliberate on Hong Jang-won?" and Lawyer Kim replied, "I am saying it once again."

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