President Yoon's Impeachment Trial Set for Final Phase

With the 11th hearing of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial set for Feb. 25, both sides are gearing up for the statements justifying their respective claims on his insurrection and power abuse charges.

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The legal representatives of the National Assembly — who passed the resolution for Mr. Yoon's impeachment in December — held a meeting on Feb. 22 to discuss their strategy for the upcoming hearing.

They are expected to focus on what they have said is the illegal and unconstitutional nature of the martial law declaration on Dec. 3, and orders made by Mr. Yoon in the process.

Mr. Yoon's side, meanwhile, claims that the martial law declaration was within his presidential rights, which was declared as a "warning" to the opposition. It said that the series of impeachments by the opposition-controlled assembly and its readjusting of the state's budgets pushed the country to the brink of national emergency.

The focal point of the trial has been on whether Mr. Yoon declaring martial law on Dec. 3 can be considered a legitimate action by a president, and if his orders to have lawmakers and his political opponents arrested actually happened as accused by the Parliament.

Feb. 20's hearing at the Constitutional Court focused on the alleged arrest order, which Mr. Hong Jang-won, the first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service at the time of the martial law, had testified on Feb. 4 to receiving them and writing them down.

He returned to the court on Feb. 20, after asking to testify again after his previous account was questioned, particularly the details of his when and how he took down notes.