Anchor: Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is alleged to have advised President Yoon Suk Yeol to declare martial law, testified at Yoon's impeachment trial on Thursday. The former minister said troops deployed on the night of December 3 were tasked to maintain order and that there was no directive from Yoon to arrest politicians. Kim also said he had personally drawn up the martial law decree.
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who attended a hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial as a witness on Thursday, denied Yoon ordered the arrest of politicians on the night of martial law on December 3.

The former minister was asked by the National Assembly's legal team if he had called former Defense Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung on the night of martial law to deliver a list of arrest subjects.

Kim said the list was not of politicians to be apprehended, but for monitoring of figures of concern who were likely to violate the decree.

According to Kim, he initially briefed the president that up to 60-thousand soldiers from all military units in the capital area would need to be mobilized to properly execute martial law, and that Yoon said the decree was only meant to sound the alarm against anti-state forces, ordering a minimal deployment of 250.

He said troops did not carry live ammunition and that they were sent to maintain order at the National Assembly, in contrast to allegations by the legal team for the Assembly that the deployment was meant to block lawmakers from passing a motion to revoke the decree.

Another key issue raised at Thursday's hearing was a memo given to Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok on the night of martial law about setting up an emergency legislative body.

While the Constitutional Court is in the process of verifying Yoon's alleged attempt to incapacitate parliament, Kim said he personally wrote the memo in order to enforce legislative power over reserve funds during martial law.

Yoon also questioned Kim in person, recalling the former minister showing him a draft of the decree he had prepared on the night of either December 1 or 2.

The president said he left it the way it was despite the necessity for a legal review due to its symbolic nature, being aware of its lack of feasibility as the martial law would not last longer than a day.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.