South Korea’s Yoon defends his martial law decree in his first public appearance since his arrest

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol denies ordering military to block assembly vote, faces rebellion charges.

South Korea’s impeached President denied Tuesday (January 21, 2025) that he ordered the military to drag lawmakers out of the National Assembly to prevent them from voting to reject his martial law decree last month, as he appeared for the first time before the Constitutional Court that will determine his fate.

Yoon Suk Yeol’s presence at the court was his first public appearance since becoming South Korea’s first sitting president to be detained over his short-lived declaration of martial law, which plunged the country into political turmoil.

After abruptly imposing martial law on Dec. 3, Mr. Yoon sent troops and police officers to encircle the National Assembly, but enough lawmakers managed to enter to vote unanimously to reject his decree, forcing Yoon’s Cabinet to lift the measure early the following morning.

Mr. Yoon, a conservative, has since argued that his dispatch of troops was not meant to block the assembly but instead was a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which has used its legislature majority to obstruct Yoon's agenda, undermine his budget bill and impeach some of his top officials. In his announcement of martial law, Mr. Yoon called the assembly “a den of criminals” that was bogging down government affairs, and vowed to eliminate “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces.”

The commanders of military units sent to the assembly have disagreed with Mr. Yoon’s stance. Kwak Jong-keun, commander of a special forces unit, told an assembly hearing that Yoon had called him directly and asked that his troops “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside.” Kwak said he didn’t carry out the order.

Asked by acting Constitutional Court chief justice Moon Hyungbae whether he ordered the commanders to pull out the lawmakers, Yoon replied that he didn’t do so.

Mr. Yoon said the lawmakers could have gathered somewhere later to overturn the decree. He also argued that there would have been a popular backlash if he had tried to physically prevent an assembly vote.