Second Trial for Former President Yoon on Rebellion Charges
At the second trial of former President Yoon Sukyeol on charges of leading a rebellion, Kim Hyeonggi, commander of the 1st Special Forces Battalion, appeared as a witness and testified that he had received orders during the 12·3 Martial Law to remove members of the National Assembly, and that he understood these orders to have come from former President Yoon.
Former President Yoon Sukyeol is attending the second formal trial on charges of leading a rebellion at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-dong on the 21st. April 21, 2025 Photo by Joint Press Corps
On the 21st, the 25th Criminal Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Ji Guyoun) held the second trial in the rebellion case against former President Yoon. During the trial, following the cross-examination of Cho Sunghyun, commander of the 1st Security Battalion of the Capital Defense Command, who was called as a witness by the prosecution, cross-examination of Commander Kim took place.
On this day, Yoon’s defense team asked, “When you received the order from Lee Sanghyun, commander of the 1st Airborne Brigade of the Special Warfare Command, to ‘break down the door and drag them out on the President’s orders,’ did you believe this was the President’s instruction?” Kim replied, “Yes.” At the first trial on the 14th, when the prosecutor asked Kim if he had received instructions from Commander Lee to “climb over the wall and remove the lawmakers,” Kim also answered, “Yes.”
Yoon’s defense further asked, “After martial law ended, did Commander Lee or anyone else ever say, ‘At the time, I said it was the President’s order, but in fact, it wasn’t’?” Kim replied, “No, there was no such person.” He added, “Commander Lee said he spoke with former Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jonggeun and specifically heard the word ‘President.’”
Commander Kim also testified that although the Special Forces at the time were in a position to carry out a ‘citizen suppression mission,’ they had no intention of doing so. When asked by Yoon’s team, “Forty-nine personnel entered the National Assembly grounds, and the rest waited on the bus. Was this because the citizens’ resistance was intense?” Kim answered, “Citizen resistance was indeed intense, but we withdrew because it was a situation where physical clashes with the troops were inevitable.” When further asked, “If you had decided to, was it possible to suppress the resistance and carry out the mission?” he replied, “Yes.” He also stated, “The troops were already agitated. If I had given the order to go in and remove them, they would have executed it as instructed.”
Meanwhile, during the trial, as filming of former President Yoon was permitted, images of him seated at the defendant’s table were made public for the first time. Seated at the innermost seat of the second row in the courtroom, former President Yoon appeared wearing a red tie and a navy suit. In the afternoon session, he was seen dozing off several times.
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