During the sixth hearing of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial Thursday, witnesses gave conflicting testimonies over whether Yoon ordered the removal of lawmakers during the December 3rd martial law, contradicting his earlier claims.

Kwak Jong-keun, a former chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, stated he naturally thought Yoon meant lawmakers and not agents when he issued orders to drag people out of the National Assembly, adding there were no agents there at the time. 

A key point of contention in Yoon's impeachment trial was whether he had ordered politicians to be dragged out of the National Assembly, to stop the motion to rescind martial law from passing.

Yoon immediately denied Kwak’s statement, saying it differed from his own recollections and that the testimony from Kwak and Hong Jang-won, a former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service(NIS), was clearly ill intentioned.

Hong testified on Tuesday that he received an order from Yoon to arrest politicians on the night of December 3.

Kwak also reaffirmed that Yoon told him over the phone that the parliament had yet to attain the required quorum and ordered him to swiftly remove the people who were inside the Assembly.

Kim Hyun-tae, the head of the 707th Special Mission Group, also testified earlier on Thursday that he did not receive any order to drag out lawmakers.

He testified that Kwak had asked if he could ensure that fewer than 150 people remained in the chamber.

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

Thursday's hearing ended after eight hours. The next session is slated for next Tuesday.