Yoon dodges demands for apology

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol remained silent on calls to apologize for his martial law declaration, as he appeared at a Seoul court on Monday, walking through the press photo line en route to the fourth hearing of his criminal trial.

Monday's hearing marked Yoon’s second court appearance at the public entrance, as the Seoul Central District Court decided to disallow use of the underground parking lot on May 12.

Asked if he would apologize for declaring martial law on Dec. 3 last year or whether he would like to issue a comment about multiple testimonies that he made orders to drag out lawmakers from the National Assembly, the former president remained silent.

At the court, Yoon continued to deny that he issued the order to drag out lawmakers from the parliament on the night he declared martial law, following his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in January.

A Special Warfare Command high-ranking official testified that he had seen his superior, Lt. Gen. Kwak Jeong-keun — former head of the Special Warfare Command — on the phone after martial law was declared, repeating an “unknown” caller’s order to break down the door and get inside the National Assembly building.

Brig. Gen. Park Jeong-hwan, chief of staff of the Special Warfare Command, appeared at the fourth hearing, insisting that Kwak ordered him and other troops to “break down the door or smash windows if necessary and get inside the parliament to drag the lawmakers out,” after receiving a call on the night of the martial law declaration.

The military official explained that he was not able to identify the caller at the time.

But he learned later that the then-president had issued instructions to his superior over the phone after Kwak claimed Yoon’s order was to break into the Assembly during testimony before the National Defense Committee in December.

“There were orders to break into the National Assembly building and remove politicians to prevent them from passing the motion to revoke the emergency martial law declaration,” Park said during the hearing on Yoon's insurrection charges at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. "Because the orders were very shocking, other high-ranking military officials of the Special Warfare Command, who heard the instruction with me at the time, exchanged glances and had confused expressions on our faces."

Park stated that Kwak had received many phone calls until the motion to cancel the martial law declaration was passed, adding that the former commander seemed to be under immense pressure.

“Kwak was so anxious that when the person on the phone asked how long it would take for the helicopters to arrive at the National Assembly, he would say five minutes even though it would realistically take 15 minutes,” Park said.

Kwak was previously accused of deploying military units to the National Assembly during the martial law declaration and allegedly preventing the National Assembly from exercising its constitutional powers by colluding with Yoon and then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun.