Ex-President Yoon rebuts insurrection continuation charge, citing his order to withdraw troops
At the first hearing of his abuse-of-power trial at the Seoul Central District Court on the 13th, former President Yoon Suk Yeol rebutted the special prosecutors' team's finding that acts of insurrection continued up until the passage of his impeachment motion, saying, "It is hard to accept that the situation continued when martial law had already been lifted." He pointed to the fact that he personally ordered the troops to withdraw and ended the martial law situation immediately after the National Assembly's demand to lift martial law. Yoon testified that when the National Assembly passed a resolution demanding the lifting of martial law at 1:01 a.m. on December 4, 2024, the defense minister ordered the withdrawal of troops within minutes, after which he ended the martial law situation and sent standby military officers home. His argument was that the lifting of martial law was carried out in response to the Assembly's demand.
Yoon's side flatly denied the charge that he ordered messages justifying the martial law to be conveyed to allied countries, saying "the essence was diplomatic crisis management." They argued that maintaining trust with allies and assuring them of continuity in foreign policy and security is a president's core duty. Yoon said he had asked former First Deputy Director of the National Security Office Kim Tae-hyo to explain the situation to the ambassador to the United States, but had not given instructions with any specific wording, and had issued no such instructions regarding Britain or Japan.
Former National Security Office Director Shin Won-sik, indicted alongside him, also denied all charges. Shin claimed he told Yoon immediately after the declaration of martial law, "Cancel it right away." He said that during the special counsel's investigation, he initially testified that he had been ordered to deliver explanations of the martial law to four countries including Australia, but retracted that statement after reviewing the case files and finding that no phone call records from the time existed.
