In Yoon Suk Yeol's trial on charges of leading a civil war, which was held at the Seoul Central District Court's Criminal Chamber 25 on Thursday, the independent counsel team and lawyers had a war of nerves over the title of former President Yoon. Witness was questioned at the trial on former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.
When the independent counsel team referred to former President Yoon as the "defendant's Yoon Suk Yeol" during the questioning, the lawyers of the former president protested, saying, "I did not honor the former president and senior prosecutor, who was the chief executive of the country." The independent counsel team responded, saying, "It is an official name written on the indictment," and that the lawyers are implementing unnecessary strategies to delay the lawsuit. The court continued the process, saying, "There is no problem with the name of the special prosecutor team," but when the lawyers regained the problem, the name was eventually arranged as "defendant."
金 "Symbolic martial law, trying to be a small force."
Former Minister Kim testified that former President Yoon mentioned the decree as "symbolic." At the time, former President Yoon said, "We should minimize public inconvenience" and "It would be better to exclude curfews."
Former Minister Kim also testified that he wanted to sound the alarm, saying he wanted to do it differently from the martial law that former President Yoon has done so far. Before declaring martial law, former President Yoon said, "I want to do martial law differently from what I've done so far. I want to sound the alarm." He testified that he also said, "It would be nice to compromise with the opposition party and be the president comfortably, but I think it's a betrayal of the people," adding, "I want to be a president who is not ashamed of the people no matter what disadvantages they face."
"The purpose of Han Deok-soo's order is to lead the minister."
Former Minister Kim testified that the order document delivered to former Prime Minister Han Deok-soo at the time of martial law contained the purpose of directing ministers of each ministry. However, he said he did not receive any prior guidance from former President Yoon regarding the document.
When the special prosecution team asked, "What was in the document given to former Prime Minister Han?" former Minister Kim said, "It's hard to remember because it's been too long," but added, "I remember there was a request to take over martial law-related work from ministers of each ministry."
Meanwhile, the court merged former President Yoon's case with former Minister Kim and former National Police Agency Commissioner Jo Ji-ho's allegations of engaging in important civil war duties. After closing the hearing on the 9th of next month, the court will issue a first trial sentence in February next year, before the regular appointment of judges.
Reporter Oh Yu-jin oujini@chosun.com
“This is Kim Yong-hyun, who continues to justify insurrection while siding with Yoon Suk-yeol.
Even the defense team protests against calling the defendant a defendant—there’s nothing to say except that they never cease to amaze.
With such a mindset, they cannot even claim that the rebellion was for the people.
The reason they amount to so little is not because they have any noble cause, but because their thinking is limited to the crude idea of reducing their own punishment.”