South Korean President Yoon defended the martial law in the impeachment trial News

Yoon says the special forces sent to the National Assembly on December 3 were not there to disrupt the legislature.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has denied allegations in an impeachment trial that he ordered the military to remove lawmakers from the National Assembly during last month’s brief martial law.

64-year-old Yoon said Constitutional Court In Seoul on Tuesday, he said he was working in public service with a “firm commitment to free democracy”.

According to Yonhap news agency, he was later taken to a military hospital.

The president was impeached He has been in jail since last week On separate criminal charges of leading a rebellion in an attempt to impose martial law in early December, a move that shocked the nation and was overturned by the National Assembly within hours.

Yoon told the court that the special forces sent to the legislature on Dec. 3 were not there to disrupt the National Assembly or interfere with its martial law because he knew such action would lead to an indefensible crisis.

“In this country, the parliament and the news media are much stronger than the president, they are in a very superior position,” he said in court.

If the court rules against Yoon, he will lose the presidency and an election will be called within 60 days.

His lawyers presented arguments in defense of Yoon’s martial law declaration, saying it was intended to raise the alarm over abuses by the opposition Democratic Party.

They claimed that the actions of the opposition had paralyzed the government and brought the country’s democratic and constitutional structure to the point of collapse.

“The decree was merely intended to define the format of martial law and was never intended to be enforced, and it could not be enforced because of the potential for conflict with higher-level laws,” lawyer Cha Gi-hwan told the court.

Cha also refuted statements from military commanders involved in the martial law declaration, saying Yoon and his top aides ordered the arrest of some members of the legislature who were politically at odds with the president.

The Democratic Party, which includes minority parties as well as 12 members of Yoon’s People’s Power Party, won a two-thirds majority on December 14 to impeach Yoon. Now the Constitutional Court decides whether his impeachment is valid or not.

Lawyers prosecuting the case, selected by lawmakers, criticized Yoon and his lawyers’ comments as “largely contradictory, irrational and unclear, making them completely incomprehensible.”

“If they continue to evade responsibility as they are doing today, it will only work against them in the impeachment trial and cause greater public frustration,” they said.

Yoon walked away from the first two hearings last week, but the trial, which could last months, will continue even without her.