The head of the National Assembly’s impeachment panel, Jung Chung-rae, has insisted that President Yoon Suk Yeol must be ousted for the sake of democracy and national development. 

Jung, who chairs the National Assembly’s Legislation and Judiciary Committee, made the assertion Tuesday during his closing statement in the trial’s eleventh and final hearing at the Constitutional Court, saying Yoon sought to destroy the Constitution and trample on parliament. 

Jung said the president sought to crush the nation’s democracy, which the people have guarded with their blood, and to destroy the Constitution, which is written in the people’s blood. 

He went on to say that there are no autocratic states among advanced nations and no country has achieved development without democracy. 

Jung said Yoon took an oath to uphold the Constitution and defend the nation upon taking office, but instead he sent martial law forces to the National Assembly and trampled on the Constitution. 

The committee chair stressed that the crime of treason must not go unpunished and exceptions must not be made for a sitting president.