‘90-Minute Final Statement’ Yoon Says, “Investigations Launched Like a Pack of Wolves at the Democratic Party’s Whistle”... Verdict on February 19

[Financial News] Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, who has been sentenced to death at trial for declaring emergency martial law on December 3, spent 90 minutes in his final statement asserting the legitimacy of the emergency martial law.
At the first-instance closing hearing on the 14th before Criminal Division 25 of the Seoul Central District Court (presiding judge Jee Kui-yeon) on charges of leading an insurrection and abuse of power, Yoon argued, “The exercise of the president’s emergency powers of state cannot constitute insurrection.”
On this day, Yoon delivered his statement for 90 minutes, from 12:11 p.m. to 1:31 p.m. He directed most of his remarks toward the gallery. Speaking with his face flushed red, he shook his head and at times struck the desk.
Yoon said, “The indictment in this case is a delusion and a work of fiction that does not accord with objective facts or basic legal common sense,” adding, “There was no chain of command, and from the outset the investigation was not about uncovering the truth but about fabrication and distortion with the predetermined goal of calling it insurrection. It made me think of a pack of wolves blindly rushing in to tear apart their prey at the whistle of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which holds an overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, together with the dark forces that have long ruled our country.”
He went on, “They couldn’t pull off long-term dictatorship even if you handed it to them on a platter,” and countered, “Isn’t it the case that they actively pursued investigations while supporting impeachment and the insurrection narrative?”
Referring to the impeachments pushed by the then-opposition, including the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Yoon stressed, “Why do you think they waged this kind of unconstitutional parliamentary dictatorship so doggedly against our administration? Was it not to overturn the nation’s course of liberal democratic order, a free-market system, and alignment with the free world?”
He continued, “Regardless of whether one is for or against it, everyone clearly understands the purpose of my declaring martial law and the necessity for it,” adding that government legislation, various budget matters, security issues, and impeachment were abuses of constitutional authority.
He said, “At the Constitutional Court of Korea, investigative records that have no evidentiary value under the impeachment procedure law were submitted without limit and used as evidence for findings of fact,” and pointed out, “Yet in this courtroom it has been revealed that most of the key evidence was false or fabricated. I cannot help but think that the investigations that drove the insurrection narrative immediately after the lifting of martial law were a means to drag the president down in the impeachment trial.”
Yoon concluded, “I ask that you carefully consider the constitutional implications of this case and the grave sense of responsibility I bore as president in seeking to prevent the collapse of the constitutional order and paralysis of state affairs in a time of national crisis,” adding, “That can never be subversion of the constitutional order. It cannot be a riot.”
When Yoon’s remarks ended, applause broke out from the gallery, which presiding judge Jee Kui-yeon moved to stop.
The first-instance verdict in the insurrection case involving Yoon and others will be delivered at 3 p.m. on the 19th of next month.
theknight@fnnews.com Jung Kyung-soo, Choi Eun-sol Reporter