Seok Dong-hyeon, suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's lawyer (Yonhap)
Seok Dong-hyeon, suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's lawyer (Yonhap)

Yoon Suk Yeol's lawyer said Wednesday that the impeached president will accept the decision of the Constitutional Court of Korea, which is deliberating whether to confirm his impeachment over his botched declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.

"The president will of course accept the results from the Constitutional Court. (...) We cannot consider the possibility of him refusing or being unable to accept (the trial's results)," Seok Dong-hyeon, who represents Yoon, told reporters in a press conference.

He stressed that his comment is not in anticipation of unfavorable results for Yoon in the trial. Rather, it is simply to state that the legal team does not have plans regarding either accepting or refusing the court's decision. Seok said he hopes the verdict will be fair and in accordance with the law.

Seok, a long-time confidant of Yoon who attended Seoul National University School of Law with the embattled president, has been denying the charges his client faces -- including leading an insurrection and abuse of power -- and has maintained that there are "severe errors" in the legal process.

The suspended president is currently on trial for impeachment and under criminal investigation for his failed imposition of martial law -- the first time a South Korean president has made such an attempt since 1980, which resulted in the violent suppression of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising -- and his subsequent orders to his military commanders and police chiefs, which are suspected to be illegal in nature.

Yoon is believed to have ordered the arrest of a list of major political figures and opinion leaders who have been critical of him, along with a blockade of the National Assembly and the cutting off of the electricity and water at several media outlets.

Yoon's criminal trial officially kicked off Thursday, with the first preliminary hearing held at 10 a.m.

Seok called the deliberation process of the nation's Constitutional Court unconstitutional and illegal, claiming that the former members of a now-defunct judge's society are playing prominent roles in what he claimed is Yoon's unlawful trial. "(Yoon) has many issues with the unacceptable level of illegal and unfair proceedings of his impeachment trial," he said.

He said neither the president or the legal team are considering Yoon voluntarily stepping down from the presidency. He said the "important decision" mentioned earlier by Yoon Kab-keun -- another member of the president's legal team -- refers to actions within the legal procedure, such as Yoon's attorneys collectively resigning.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com