The head of the First Security Group under the Capital Defense Command testified that former Commander Lee Jin-woo issued an order on the night of December 3 to remove lawmakers from the National Assembly.

Testifying at the eighth hearing in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial Thursday, Col. Cho Seong-hyeon was asked if he had heard the order with the exact words to “enter the Assembly building” and to “remove lawmakers,” to which he replied, “Yes.”

When asked what type of task he understood it to be at the time, Cho said he did not quite understand exactly what it meant and that he was disconcerted after receiving the order.

Cho said he called the former commander some five to ten minutes later, notifying him that the task was not something his unit could carry out, especially not by itself.

As for what was to come after the Special Warfare Command removed the lawmakers, Cho said he was told to offer support, including crowd control and clearing paths.

Cho said the first task he faced after arriving at the Assembly was to restrict entry to the building, adding that such actions during a military operation involve the use of physical force.