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| ▲ Army Col. Kim Hyun-tae, head of the 707th Special Mission Group, arrives at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 6, 2025, to testify at President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) talks with his lawyers as he attends the sixth hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 6, 2025, over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December. (Pool photo) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ Kwak Jong-keun, former chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, answers a question from a lawmaker at the National Assembly in Seoul on Feb. 4, 2025, during a hearing of a parliamentary special committee to probe into impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrection allegations in connection with his botched martial law declaration. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Yoon-impeachment trial
(LEAD) Army colonel says was told no more than '150 people' could be inside Nat'l Assembly during martial law operation
(ATTN: UPDATES with testimony of head of 707th Special Mission Group; CHANGES headline; ADDS photos)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- An Army colonel who was involved in President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law said Thursday he had been ordered to seal off and secure the National Assembly building while the decree was in force.
Col. Kim Hyun-tae, head of the Army Special Warfare Command's 707th Special Mission Group, made the remark as a witness during the sixth formal hearing of Yoon's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. Yoon was also in attendance.
"The mission I received was to seal off and secure (the National Assembly)," he said, adding that he relayed the instruction to his troops.
He also recalled that in a phone call he had with Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the then chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, after his troops had entered the parliamentary building on the night of Dec. 3, Kwak asked if they could go in further, "since there can't be more than 150 people."
Kim said he did not know at the time what the number 150 meant but later learned it was the minimum number of lawmakers needed to vote down Yoon's martial law decree.
When asked if he was instructed to "drag out" lawmakers, he said, "There was no such order and by my recollection even if there had been it wouldn't have worked."
Thursday's session is also set to hear testimonies from Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, former chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, who has accused Yoon of ordering the removal of lawmakers from the National Assembly building while martial law was in place.
Kwak has previously testified in parliament that Yoon called him on a secure line on the day he imposed martial law on Dec. 3 and ordered him to "drag out" lawmakers from inside the National Assembly building.
Then Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun testified during an earlier hearing that Yoon had in fact ordered the removal of "agents," not lawmakers, but Kwak refuted the claim this week, saying there were no agents inside the building at the time.
Senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Park Chun-sup is also set to testify.
Park is expected to be asked about the opposition party's push to cut the government budget, which Yoon's side has cited as one of the reasons martial law was declared.
(END)
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