
President Yoon Suk Yeol and a former spy agency deputy director exchanged fierce comments and contradicting recollections of a phone call at the fifth hearing of Yoon’s impeachment trial that ended late Tuesday night.
Hong Jang-won, who was the No. 2 at the National Intelligence Service, claimed to have written down a list of politicians to arrest during a phone call with Yeo In-hyung, who was then commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, on the night of Dec. 3, 2024.
According to Hong, before he spoke to Yeo, the president called him at 10:53 p.m., immediately after the declaration of martial law. He says Yoon instructed him to “round them all up and clean everything out.”
The key issue during the trial revolved around determining who Yoon was referring to.
Order to arrest politicians?
When asked by the National Assembly, which is prosecuting Yoon’s impeachment trial, whether Hong received an arrest order from Yoon, the 30-year NIS veteran said he “remembers” and that he understood Yoon’s order as “someone had to be apprehended,” without clearly knowing the specific target or targets.
Hong testified at the court that following his call with Yoon, he immediately called Yeo, who listed off the names of politicians to be arrested.
“The note I hurriedly jotted down was later transcribed by my aide ― I wasn’t in a position to write down all 14 or 16 names completely that night. While writing, I questioned myself, ‘What is all this?’ and only wrote about half of the names before stopping.”
Order meant to catch spies: Yoon’s team
Yoon’s legal representative countered that Yoon meant to arrest “spies.”
Following the witness examination, Yoon requested an opportunity to speak to refute Hong’s claims directly.
“The NIS has no investigative authority. It cannot conduct arrests or even track locations. Yeo would certainly know this, and the arrest memo doesn’t make sense,” Yoon said.
Yoon further clarified that his phone call with Hong on the night of the martial law declaration had been unrelated to what happened that night.
“I wanted to tell Hong to support the Defense Counterintelligence Command with intelligence related to anti-communist operations because the NIS has more information on it.”
Based on what Yoon said, he made a call at around 11 p.m. to the NIS deputy chief to ask him to cooperate with other military units.
But when the National Assembly’s legal representatives asked Hong whether he had heard the word “spies,” Hong simply answered: “no.”
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court justices closely examined Hong’s “arrest memo” and asked whether he received orders to arrest or support arrests.
Justice Cheong Hyung-sik asked Hong whether Yeo actually requested him to arrest anyone, to which Hong replied, “Requesting to track locations inherently means arresting the targets.”
Justice Cheong asked, “Why would Yeo specifically request arrests? Does the NIS even have personnel for such operations?” He pointed out that the claim should be amended to "support arrest," not "request to arrest," since the NIS lacks the authority to arrest.
Hong answered, "The NIS lacks arrest authority but can assist police in such operations."

Refusing to speak
A day after Yoon's most recent hearing, the National Assembly's special committee held an on-site investigation Wednesday, but those summoned for the inquiry, including ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, refused to attend.
Although it was organized as an on-site investigation in consideration of Kim being held at the Seoul Eastern Detention Center, the former minister did not attend the hearing that began at 10 a.m.
“Members of the special investigation team met with Kim to persuade him to participate in the on-site inquiry, but he strongly refused,” Choi Gyu-chul, head of the detention center, told lawmakers.
“Kim said he is busy preparing for his trial and we cannot force his attendance. His lawyer is currently visiting for legal consultation,” he added.
The special committee plans to conduct additional on-site visits, including at the Seoul Detention Center where Yoon is being held and the Capital Defense Command’s pretrial detention center, where Yeo remains.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court said Wednesday that it is once again summoning Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho of the Korean National Police Agency as a witness for Yoon's trial.
The court's press officer Cheon Jae-hyun told reporters that Cho will be called in as a witness on Feb. 13 at 3:30 p.m. He failed to appear at the previous session on Jan. 23, citing health reasons for his inability to attend.
The court also said they approved a request from Yoon's side to call in Kim Bong-sik, former commissioner of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, as a witness on the same day as well.
The next impeachment hearing is set for Thursday.