Yoon's Side: "I Was Enlightened by Martial Law Declaration... The Election Commission Shows Overt Pro-China Bias"

Yoon's Side Stresses Legitimacy of Martial Law in Final Argument
Repeats Claims of Election Fraud

In the final argument of President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment trial, the president's side stated, "Martial law was due to the opposition party's obstruction of policies and legislative violence," and added, "We were enlightened through the declaration of martial law." They reiterated the claim that martial law was a legitimate exercise of presidential authority to "enlighten" the people during a national emergency caused by the "violent acts of the massive opposition party."

Attorney Kim Gye-ri is attending and conversing at the final argument of President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment trial held on the 25th at the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Corps

On the afternoon of the 25th, during the 11th hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial, lawyer Kim Gye-ri, speaking on behalf of the president's legal team, said, "I became aware of the Democratic Party's misdeeds through the emergency martial law, which I had been unaware of due to pregnancy, childbirth, and childcare," and added, "I was enlightened." She emphasized, "The declaration of martial law was a public appeal to inform the situation of anti-state forces' social domination, the Democratic Party's attempt to control the media, legislative violence, and one-party dictatorship fascist acts."

That day, in her statement summarizing documentary evidence, lawyer Kim presented a video showing Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, and Woo Won-shik, Speaker of the National Assembly, climbing over a wall during the martial law period as evidence. Kim explained, "It is a scene where they are climbing over alone with no one else around," indicating that access to the National Assembly was not blocked at the time. She also claimed that some opposition party lawmakers, including members of the Democratic Party and the Joguk Innovation Party, had prior convictions for violating the National Security Act.

Following this, lawyer Cha Ki-hwan, who took the floor next, again mentioned the "hybrid warfare" and emphasized the legitimacy of the emergency martial law. Cha said, "Hybrid warfare by China and North Korea is unfolding in Korea," and added, "In this situation, considering the paralysis of the judiciary due to the National Assembly's frequent impeachment motions, legislative dictatorship by the Assembly, and indiscriminate budget cuts rendering the government unable to function normally, it was judged to be a national emergency."

He also repeated allegations of election fraud, stating, "The National Election Commission is blatantly showing pro-China tendencies." Cha claimed, "According to the National Election Commission's security inspection results, the network separation during the general election was inadequate, leaving it defenseless against hacking, and it was possible to steal the Commission's voter lists," and argued, "For various reasons, suspicions and concerns about the election system persisted among the public."

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