Anchor: President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is currently in pretrial detention over allegation surrounding his declaration of martial law last month, appeared at his impeachment trial for the first time. The president, who was given a chance to speak at the hearing, flatly denied suspicions that he ordered soldiers to block lawmakers from voting to revoke martial law.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: President Yoon Suk Yeol attended his impeachment trial for the first time, where he was allowed an opportunity to speak at Tuesday's hearing.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean/English Translation)]
"Since growing up and especially while in public service, I have spent my life with one firm conviction of free democracy. As the Constitutional Court is an institution that protects the Constitution, I ask the justices to give a good look into the case."

During questioning by the Constitutional Court's acting chief Moon Hyung-bae, Yoon denied ordering the removal of lawmakers from the National Assembly as they gathered to vote on the motion to revoke his martial law decree.

In response to allegation that martial law troops were deployed to parliament in a bid to block voting on the revocation motion, Yoon said Assembly voting is not something that can be blocked and that he withdrew troops following the motion passage.

The president denied giving a memo to finance minister Choi Sang-mok ordering him to draw up a budget for the operation of an emergency legislative body, saying if such orders were given, former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun is the only one who could have known about them.

The president also claimed allegations of election rigging are not part of conspiracy theory or attempt by his defense team to justify martial law.

Yoon said there were many suspicions about fairness in the election system prior to the decree, and that the intent was to check up on the National Election Commission's(NEC) computerized system, rather than to hunt down those involved in the alleged rigging.

The Assembly's team, for its part, urged the court to restrict argument over the alleged election rigging, stressing that such claim is groundless and the matter is not an issue of dispute in trial.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.