During the 12th martial law, former Special Warfare Command 1st Airborne Brigade Commander Lee Sang-hyun and former President Yoon Suk-yeol repeatedly gave conflicting testimonies at a trial held on the 9th. The former brigade commander testified that he heard an order that "the president directed to break down the door with an axe and drag out the lawmakers," while former President Yoon directly rebutted the claim as completely false.
The 25th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court held the sixth trial regarding former President Yoon's charges of leading a rebellion on the 9th.
The former brigade commander appeared as a witness at the trial that day, testifying that he heard an order from former Army Special Warfare Command Commander Kwak Jong-geun to drag out lawmakers. This brigade commander had given similar testimony in previous hearings.
Former President Yoon's attorney rebutted the former brigade commander, stating, "In past media interviews, this general referred to 'the upper command' instead of 'the president,'" questioning if the term 'president' was ever heard.
In response to the attorney's rebuttal, the general stated, "Even during the currency call with the battalion commander right after the call, I conveyed that 'the president gave this instruction' and if I had said 'the upper command,' I couldn’t have referred to it as a presidential directive."
He continued, "I talked about the circumstances as I know them," adding, "I did not live a military life of lies."
On that day, former President Yoon also directly rebutted the testimony of the former brigade commander, who said, "I heard that Commander Kwak had a video conference with the upper command." Even though former President Yoon attended a prior trial, he had not expressed any opinions during the witness examination.
Former President Yoon stated, "The video conference at the Ministry of National Defense command control center occurred immediately after the declaration of martial law, where the minister addressed the national commanders, and only concluded with a message of thanks for their efforts. I have not heard that there was a video conference with various units."
He continued, "I cannot know whether the Special Warfare Commander received this order during the video conference with the upper command. It is also clearly a lie that in the military, the upper command means the president, and within the military, the upper command refers up to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Ministry of National Defense."
After the trial concluded, former President Yoon's attorney indicated that he would not attend the police summons regarding charges of ordering the security service to prevent arrests. The attorney said, "There was no legitimate execution of public duty, and the president was not involved in that matter. It cannot be established that such facts are investigated, and if necessary, a questionnaire can be sent that can be answered."
In the trial that day, there was also a disagreement between former President Yoon's side and the prosecution regarding the method of seizing the Byfone server. The prosecution requested the court to issue a search warrant, while former President Yoon's side argued that for the presidential office documents, a request for document submission should be made instead of a search.
The next seventh trial regarding former President Yoon's rebellion charges is scheduled for the 16th. In the seventh trial, Kim Cheol-jin, military advisor to the Minister of National Defense, and Lee Jae-sik, Deputy Minister for Planning and Coordination, who was the director of the martial law command planning and coordination office at the time, will testify.