At the trial on charges that former President Yoon Suk-yeol was the ringleader of insurrection, three key commanders who moved troops during the illegal 12·3 declaration of martial law last year all took the stand. They were former Army Special Warfare Commander Gwak Jong-geun, former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung, and former Capital Defense Commander Lee Jin-woo. Yet what they showed in court differed from one another. Former Commander Gwak stated that he heard from former President Yoon an order to arrest members of the National Assembly and others. By contrast, former Commander Yeo kept silent, and former Commander Lee denied it. Their recollections were also divided on whether they discussed ‘emergency martial law’ with former President Yoon in advance.

Former Commander Lee Jin-woo appeared as a witness on the 15th at the trial on insurrection charges against former President Yoon, conducted by the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 25 (presiding judge Ji Gwi-yeon). It was his first face-to-face encounter with former President Yoon since he appeared as a witness at the Constitutional Court impeachment trial of Yoon in February. The examination of the witness continued from around 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. that day.

Before the examination began, former Commander Lee said, “Across seven rounds of questioning, the volume of information was so enormous that I could not tell whether I had said it, heard it, called it in, or received it,” and, “I was so confused that I did not know what was true.” In effect, he signaled that it would be difficult to maintain during the examination that day what he had stated during the investigation and at trial.

In the subsequent proceedings, former Commander Lee reversed himself, saying he had no memory of hearing an order from former President Yoon to arrest lawmakers. He abruptly said, “I said (in the earlier special counsel investigation) that he (former President Yoon) told us to arrest them and, while saying ‘drag them out,’ also said to arrest them, but later I saw that it was not so at all,” and, “There was no one who said to arrest; what I said, ‘If they meddle with our troops, we will arrest them,’ ended up sounding like it was what former President Yoon said.”

Former Commander Lee said he did hear former President Yoon say, ‘Break down the door if you must and drag them out,’ but added that the target was not lawmakers. He said, “If he meant lawmakers, it would not have been ‘drag them out,’ but ‘arrest them.’” He also said he had “no memory of hearing” the remark attributed to former President Yoon that he would ‘shoot (former People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon) to death with a gun.’

Former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung appeared at the insurrection trial of former President Yoon on the 27th of last month and denied the allegation that the Counterintelligence Command operated an arrest team for politicians. He refused to testify on specific questions related to the operation of such a team. The Counterintelligence Command is suspected of having deployed a ‘politician arrest team’ to the National Assembly on the day martial law was declared, but he kept silent about matters directly involving himself.

Former Commander Yeo also reversed earlier statements during the examination. He had stated during the investigation that he “heard the ‘arrest targets’ from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun,” but blurred the meaning of his prior statement by saying that mentioning ‘arrest’ was a slip of the tongue. He argued, “Words like arrest or apprehension are basically ingrained in the way soldiers speak,” and, “I said it without realizing it.”

However, he gave detailed testimony to the effect that former President Yoon had mentioned emergency powers and martial law starting in May~June last year. At the trial of Yoon on the 24th of last month, former Commander Yeo said, “While expressing concern about the nation and the state of affairs, the President became emotional and remarked, ‘To set the country right, the emergency powers guaranteed to the President by the Constitution must be invoked,’” adding, “In the course of that, talk of martial law also came up.”

He recalled that when former President Yoon spoke this way at a dinner at a safe house in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, in May~June last year, he knelt and tried to stop him. Former Commander Yeo said, “I explained how unprepared things were and that, even if it is authority for presidential emergency measures, it was impossible in practice.”

Former Special Warfare Commander Gwak Jong-geun is regarded as a key witness, because he exposed an order by former President Yoon to arrest politicians. At the insurrection trial of former President Yoon on the 3rd, former Commander Gwak stated, “(On October 1 last year) he named Han Dong-hoon and some politicians and told us to bring them before him under arrest. He said he would kill them, even by shooting them with a gun.” He also testified that former President Yoon mentioned ‘emergency powers’ on that occasion.

At the hearing on the 30th of last month, former Commander Gwak said, “When former President Yoon called at about 12:30 a.m. on December 4, I was watching on TV scenes of the National Assembly building and lawmakers coming out,” and, “At that time, over the phone, the President talked about the quorum for a vote and clearly gave the order, ‘Break down the door and drag them out if necessary.’”

Hearing this, former President Yoon asked former Commander Gwak directly, ‘Was the military sent into the National Assembly for the sake of maintaining order?’ but former Commander Gwak countered, saying, “If it is for maintaining order, the police should be sent, why would the military go?” This contradicts the earlier claim by former Commander Lee.

Meanwhile, on the 18th, former President Yoon appeared for the first time as a witness at the Central Regional Military Court in the trial of these commanders and others on the charge of carrying out important duties related to insurrection. Regarding soldiers facing discipline for involvement in the insurrection case, former President Yoon said, “They worked according to decisions I made, and I feel sorry,” while denying the allegations by stating that he never conspired to declare martial law with anyone other than former Minister Kim.