Yoon Seok-yeol President's lawyer Seok Dong-hyun (Judicial Research and Training Institute class 15) met with reporters on the 19th to express his position on the investigation into President Yoon for charges of rebellion related to the 'December 3 Emergency Martial Law Incident' and the Constitutional Court impeachment trial.
Lawyer Seok drew a line by saying, "This is not a place to officially announce the position of President Yoon or his legal team," but as a classmate from Seoul National University Law School and a friend of 40 years, he had already conveyed President Yoon's stance once through his Facebook earlier. Therefore, this meeting is expected to provide a glimpse into President Yoon's basic position on the incident and the strategy for responding to the investigation and the Constitutional Court impeachment trial.
On the same day, starting at 2 p.m., Lawyer Seok will meet reporters in front of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office building in Seocho-dong, Seoul, and hold a brief Q&A-style press conference. Through Facebook the day before, Lawyer Seok stated, "This is not a place to officially and systematically announce the position of President Yoon and his legal team. It is a limited Q&A session within the scope of what I know and can answer regarding various questions currently raised by the media while preparations are still underway." In a post earlier that morning, he hinted at communication with President Yoon by saying, "Based on what I have communicated, I intend to answer all the parts I can respond to at this stage at once."
Lawyer Seok is not participating in the legal team for President Yoon, which is centered around former Broadcasting and Communications Commission Chairman Kim Hong-il (class 15) and former Daegu High Prosecutors' Office Chief Prosecutor Yoon Gap-geun (class 19).
On the 11th, Lawyer Seok first posted on Facebook regarding this incident with the title, "In this case, it is right for President Yoon to fight in the Constitutional Court impeachment trial." At that time, he wrote, "This is not about fighting the people. In the open impeachment court, the president should thoroughly point out the injustice and the barbarity of the 'imperial' opposition party and the shameless left-wing forces who have persistently committed acts of injustice and disruption of the national order to the extent that the president had to declare martial law, and leave it as a historical record."
He also criticized the investigative agencies' competitive investigations against President Yoon, saying, "Although President Yoon's declaration of martial law was not right, there was no intent for rebellion, which is a requirement for the crime of rebellion, and no 'riot,' so the crime of rebellion could not have been established in the first place, yet the law is being ignored."
Furthermore, in a post on the 15th titled "Can Win in the Impeachment Court," he argued, "The authority to judge the state of national emergency, which is the premise for martial law according to legal principles and precedents, lies with the president," and added, "President Yoon would not have simply considered it a national emergency. Although the declaration of martial law was certainly shocking to anyone, there are abundant reasons and legal principles why that act cannot constitute the crime of rebellion under criminal law." He also stated, "Rather, it is common sense to see that the reality of disruption of the national order, which is a requirement for the crime of rebellion, and the responsibility for the resulting state mismanagement lie with the opposition lawmakers."
Lawyer Seok has also expressed his position on the appointment of Constitutional Court justices, which has recently shown a stark difference between the ruling and opposition parties, stating that "Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, acting president, does not have the authority to appoint Constitutional Court justices or the president of the Constitutional Court."
He explained, "When Acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn appointed Justice Lee Mo in 2017, it was after the Constitutional Court had impeached President Park Geun-hye, so there was no president, and the acting president had no choice but to make the appointment," adding, "Currently, President Yoon is only under impeachment, but the Constitutional Court's decision on impeachment has not yet been made, so he is still officially the sitting president, and the presidency is not vacant."
Lawyer Seok, who also represented former Future United Party lawmaker Min Kyung-wook in a lawsuit related to election fraud, is known to share a consensus with President Yoon regarding issues with the Central Election Management Committee's computer system.
At the press conference, he is expected to argue that there were reasons behind President Yoon's declaration of emergency martial law and that it does not meet the elements of the crime of rebellion under criminal law. Attention will also be paid to whether he will reveal his stance on the timing of President Yoon's appearance for investigation after the prosecution transferred the case to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and summoned him for questioning the day before.
Lawyer Seok left the prosecution in 2012, when he was the chief prosecutor of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office, taking responsibility for the controversy over the sexual relationship involving former Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor Jeon Mo (Bar Exam 1st class) who was a suspect at the time.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
