Impeachment Trial of Yoon, Hong Jang-won Facing Former Superior

Three Key Witnesses, Including Hong, Face President Yoon at the Constitutional Court
Yoon's Side Raises Voices as Hong Gives Detailed Testimony
Two Commanders Remain Passive, Avoiding Direct Answers
Conflicting Statements... The Dispute Is Expected to Intensify

After the 12·3 Emergency Martial Law incident, President Yoon Seok-yeol and former National Intelligence Service First Deputy Director Hong Jang-won faced each other for the first time at the Constitutional Court, engaging in a sharp confrontation over allegations of 'ordering the operation of arrest squads.' Former Deputy Director Hong is known for having made a decisive contribution to the National Assembly's impeachment resolution by revealing that President Yoon instructed former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung to arrest prominent politicians such as then-People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon and Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung. He stood his ground without intimidation even in front of his former superior, President Yoon.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is seated at the 5th impeachment trial held on the 4th at the Grand Bench of the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

On the 4th, at the 5th hearing of the impeachment trial, former Deputy Director Hong appeared as a witness and spoke deliberately regarding the 'order to operate arrest squads.' When asked by the National Assembly whether President Yoon said, "Arrest them all, I will give the National Intelligence Service counterintelligence investigation authority, so assist the Defense Counterintelligence Command," Hong replied, "I remember it that way." When asked if the exact term used by former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung was indeed 'arrest squads,' he answered, "Yes." Hong testified, "I took down the arrest list that former Commander Yeo read out. As I was writing, I wondered what this was, so I stopped writing about halfway through the rest of the list. After recalling from memory, I think it was about 14 or 16 people."

In response, President Yoon's side argued that the targets President Yoon ordered to be arrested were 'spies.' President Yoon's representative said, "He said to arrest all the spies," and questioned, "Isn't it that the witness (former Deputy Director Hong) alone understood it that way?" When President Yoon was given the opportunity to speak directly, he actively refuted Hong's testimony with gestures. He said, "I made the call as a form of encouragement and, while at it, told them to help the counterintelligence unit conduct spy investigations well, which has nothing to do with martial law." In response, Hong said, "There is some difference from what I remember," and when asked by the National Assembly whether spy-related topics came up during his call with President Yoon, he firmly replied, "No." At the Constitutional Court hearing that day, President Yoon's representatives and former Deputy Director Hong raised their voices in a tense exchange. When President Yoon's representative attacked by asking, "Is my question difficult?" and "Did you have phone calls with Democratic Party lawmakers before your dismissal?" Hong retorted, "I'm not being investigated as a suspect, am I?" When Hong entered the courtroom, he bowed to greet President Yoon, but President Yoon turned his head in the opposite direction.

Hong Jang-won, former 1st Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service, is speaking as a witness at the 5th hearing of President Yoon Seok-yeol's impeachment trial held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on the 4th. Photo by Yonhap News

On the same day, witness examinations were also conducted for former Capital Defense Command Commander Lee Jin-woo and former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung. They mostly avoided answering by saying, "This is a matter to be examined in criminal trials." However, former Commander Lee mostly responded with "I am restricted from answering," but denied the order to arrest politicians, providing answers different from those in the prosecution's indictment. The indictment states that in the early hours of December 4 last year, President Yoon directly called former Commander Lee and ordered, "Still haven't entered? Go to the main assembly hall and have four people carry one person each out." However, at the Constitutional Court, when President Yoon's representative asked if he had received any orders to arrest someone, former Commander Lee said, "No." He also claimed that the martial law was lawful. Former Commander Yeo also mostly evaded answers throughout the witness examination but testified that during a call with former National Police Agency Commissioner General Jo Ji-ho during the martial law period, he delivered a list containing the names of specific individuals. Although he described the arrest list as a 'specific' list, he acknowledged its existence.