President Yoon Suk-yeol closes his eyes at the sixth hearing of his impeachment trial held at the Constitutional Court in Jongno-gu, Seoul on February 6.

The impeachment trial of Yoon Suk-yeol, the jailed president accused of being an insurgency leader, has reached its conclusion. The impeachment hearings, which lasted until the sixth session, revealed that Yoon’s declaration of martial law on December 3 last year was an attempted rebellion aimed at undermining the national constitution. Investigations by prosecutors, police, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), as well as hearings by the National Assembly's Special Committee on Parliamentary Investigations, are also heading for the same conclusion. Nevertheless, Yoon has repeatedly tried to cover the sun with the palm of his hand by shifting the blame and making excuses, while the ruling People's Power Party (PPP), is reiterating as if it has been gaslighted. We cannot help but deplore how the mainstream conservative party, which is supposed to take the lead in defending the rule of law and constitutional order, has fallen to this point.

The fact that the martial law declaration was a coup d'état by Yoon and an attempt to rebel is clear that no further argument is necessary. Article 1 of the Martial Law Decree, which banned all political activities, including the National Assembly, is immovable proof of the rebellion. It neutralizes Article 77 of the Constitution, which gives the National Assembly the right to lift martial law. Based on Article 1 of the Martial Law Decree, the police blocked the National Assembly and the martial law forces entered the National Assembly. Numerous testimonies, including Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, former leader of the Army Special Warfare Command, confirms that Yoon ordered them to pull out lawmakers to prevent the National Assembly from lifting martial law.

The Defense Security Command attempted to arrest and detain the speaker of the National Assembly, representatives of the ruling and opposition parties, and others without a warrant under Article 1 of the Martial Law Decree. Yoon instructed Hong Jang-won, then the first deputy chief of the National Intelligence Service, to support the Defense Security Command, saying, “Arrest them all.” When Han Dong-hoon, then leader of the PPP, protested the operation of arrest squads on December 4 last year, a day after the martial law declaration, Yoon reportedly said, "If so, wouldn't it be because they violated the decree?" Regarding the invasion of the National Election Committee by martial law forces, Yoon acknowledged the fact that he ordered them to do so. The emergency martial law follow-up document, which was sent to ministries with instructions to establish an emergency legislative body and to shut down and to cut off power and water at media outlets, shows that martial law was for “implementation.”

Nevertheless, Yoon’s side is making absurd excuses such as “martial law was for warning” and “it was agents, not lawmakers that he ordered soldiers to take out from the National Assembly.” Regarding Article 1 of the Martial Law Decree, Yoon said, “It was a mistaken copy of the past martial law decree,” and regarding the emergency martial law document, he is holding out even though Acting President Choi Sang-mok received it from Yoon’s side. How can this kind of sophistry and denial come out without considering the people as fools?

What is even worse is the ruling party's attitude in defense of Yoon. The PPP said on February 9 that the "false frame of rebellion" should be corrected. PPP Lawmakers volunteer to work as Yoon’s megaphone, delivering his remarks that instigate a rebellion. Is the country where the ruling party dreams of a one-man autocratic totalitarian system that uses the military to crush the National Assembly, ignores politicians, law enforcement officials, and journalists, turns constitutional institutions into nothing, and closes media outlets at will? The ruling party must choose whether to become a hostage to Yoon and shrink into a dissident far-right and insurgency-advocating party, or repudiate him and rebuild and expand its conservative base.