Trial proceeds as court allows press to photograph, film opening of hearing
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s legal representatives and a senior military official waged a war of nerves over the controversial order to the military to break down the doors of the National Assembly and arrest the lawmakers on the night of Dec. 3, during the second hearing of Yoon's criminal trial on charges of insurrection, Monday.
Yoon appeared before the public in court for the first time since being removed from office on April 4, after the court allowed the press to photograph and film the opening of the session -- though for only a few minutes before the official proceedings began -- due to the "historical significance of the case."
During the trial, however, the ousted president remained silent.
Monday's hearing examined Col. Cho Sung-hyun, head of the Army's Capital Defense Command First Security Group, who had allegedly received orders from former Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo to send troops to break down the doors of the National Assembly and "drag out" the lawmakers in there on the night of Yoon's martial law declaration.
Cho, in the first hearing on April 14, had already testified that he had been given the order to break down the doors of the Assembly and drag out all the lawmakers in there. But Yoon’s legal team attempted to question the credibility of Cho’s testimony on Monday.
Song Jin-ho, one of Yoon’s lawyers, questioned whether it was practically possible to carry out the order to drag the lawmakers out of the Assembly.
“I don’t understand why the commander would give us an order that was impossible to fulfill,” Cho said, going on to ask: “Is that the kind of order to be carried out as a military operation?”
“There can be no order to drag out members of the National Assembly in a military operation. I don’t know why such an order was given even though the commander already knows very well about this,” he added.
Yoon's legal team asked if there is a possibility of the colonel’s arbitrary interpretation of the commander's order or independent judgment, and also questioned even slightly different testimonies made during past interrogations and testimonies.
Cho firmly rebutted those points.
“After receiving the order, I told the commander that our troops cannot conduct such a task and requested that he communicate with the chief of the Army's Special Warfare Command," the colonel said.
"I am not sure whether the commander contacted the Army's Special Warfare Command, but he withdrew the initial order and told me to make way for the Army Special Forces, who would drag the lawmakers out,” the colonel testified, insisting that there was no room for personal interpretation as he delivered the commander’s order explicitly to his subordinates.
Meanwhile, Lt. Col. Kim Hyung-ki, head of the First Special Forces Brigade (Airborne) of the Army's Special Warfare Command, was also examined as a witness on Monday's hearing, following Cho.
The lieutenant colonel testified that his superior gave him a presidential order to "drag out" the lawmakers from the National Assembly even if he had to “break down the doors.”
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
