Defense Team on Yoon's One-Hour Final Statement: "Confident of Acquittal... The Court Must Have Been Moved"

Former President Yoon Suk-yeol delivered his final statement over the course of an hour as he stood trial on charges of deploying drones to Pyongyang, North Korea. His defense team remarked, "It was a statement that even the special prosecutors and the judges could not help but be moved by."

Former President Yoon Suk-yeol appears at the first trial on charges of 'obstruction of special official duties and abuse of authority to interfere with the exercise of rights' held on September 26, 2025, at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Joint Press Photographers Group

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Song Jin-ho, one of Yoon's defense attorneys, wrote on his Facebook page on the 25th, "Personally, I dare say that the content of yesterday's final statement was more moving than testimonies in many other cases so far," and added, "There was a sentencing hearing for President Yoon Suk-yeol's first trial on general treason charges, and with only the verdict left, I am confident of his acquittal."

Previously, Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-seok's team, during the sentencing hearing for the first trial of former President Yoon and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on general treason and related charges, held on the 24th in Criminal Division 36 of the Seoul Central District Court (presided over by Judge Lee Jung-yeop), requested a 30-year prison sentence for former President Yoon. The prosecution alleged that he orchestrated a drone infiltration operation into Pyongyang to provoke North Korea as a pretext for declaring martial law.

Since the trial involved significant military secrets, all proceedings were closed to the public, so the full content of Yoon's final statement is not known. However, Yoon's defense team expressed regret that the trial was not broadcast due to military confidentiality and held a press conference after the hearing to release portions of his statement.

According to the defense, former President Yoon stated in his final remarks, "I first learned of the matters alleged by the special prosecutor in court, but upon hearing and verifying those facts, it was actually a very appropriate operation. In fact, it was so important and well-executed that not carrying out such an operation by the Ministry of National Defense would have amounted to negligence of duty."

It is also reported that former President Yoon explained in detail to the court the efforts he made while fulfilling his presidential duties.

On December 26 of last year, during the sentencing hearing for the first trial on charges including obstruction of the execution of an arrest warrant, Yoon also delivered a one-hour final statement. At that time, he actively defended himself, asserting that his charges did not constitute a crime, and did not apologize to the public.

Subsequently, on January 13 this year, during the sentencing hearing for the first trial of the insurrection case, he delivered a final statement lasting an hour and a half. In that statement, he referred to the special prosecutors as a "pack of wolves" and commented, "When I saw that the public was enlightened by the national crisis and cheered me on, I thought, 'Ah, the emergency alarm I sounded was effective,'" echoing his remarks during the impeachment proceedings.

Meanwhile, the verdict for the 'Pyongyang drone deployment' case is scheduled to be delivered on June 12.

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