Kwak Jong-keun, a former chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, says he naturally thought President Yoon Suk Yeol meant lawmakers and not agents when Yoon issued orders to drag people out of parliament on the night of December 3.

Kwak delivered his testimony on Thursday during the sixth hearing of Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, saying there were no agents in the National Assembly plenary chamber at the time. 

The Korean words for “lawmakers” and “agents” sound similar.

The former command chief reaffirmed that Yoon told him over the phone that the Assembly had yet to attain the required quorum and ordered him to swiftly remove the people who were inside the chamber. 

To pass a motion to rescind martial law, the National Assembly needed a quorum of at least 150 lawmakers present.

Kwak previously said former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun told him to drag lawmakers out of the National Assembly, while Kim said he instructed that “agents” be taken out.