Yoon's Representatives: "The President Will Speak Directly at an Appropriate Time"

Yoon Gap-geun, the attorney representing President Yoon Seok-yeol, stated after the first preparatory hearing at the Constitutional Court, "President Yoon will appear in the impeachment trial at an appropriate time and speak for himself."

Lawyer Yoon Gap-geun, who completed the first preparatory hearing for the presidential impeachment trial. Photo by Yonhap News.

On the 27th, Yoon Gap-geun, the president's representative, made this remark to the press in front of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul, immediately after the first preparatory hearing held at 2 p.m. that day.

Attorney Yoon said, "Since proper service of process has not been completed, we were not fully prepared and will respond in detail at the next hearing." He added, "The Constitution Court applies the Criminal Procedure Act for service of process, and any deficiencies are governed by the Civil Procedure Act. After thoroughly reviewing each regulation, there is absolutely no room to interpret the current service as lawful."

Regarding the investigation, he said, "There are many issues, such as the investigative agencies summoning the president redundantly from three different places, so we will comprehensively review and devise a response plan." When asked about preparations for arrest or detention warrants, he replied, "That seems to be getting ahead of things."

When asked whether President Yoon would personally appear in response to the third summons issued by the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office on the 29th, the president's side responded, "There are various issues involved, so we will make a decision after a comprehensive review."

Kim Jin-han, the attorney representing the National Assembly, said, "The respondent is still the person holding the presidency and bears the greatest responsibility to protect the Constitution," and urged, "We ask and urge full cooperation in the upcoming impeachment trial procedures." He added, "The most necessary task to overcome the current crisis is the appointment of Constitutional Court justices," and appealed, "We call on the acting authority to recognize their constitutional duty and promptly appoint Constitutional Court justices even now."