President Yoon Suk Yeol actively defended his decision to declare martial law on December 3 when he delivered the closing statement in his impeachment trial Tuesday. 

In the statement, which wrapped up the eleventh and final hearing in the trial, Yoon insisted that the martial law situation in December was unlike those seen in the past, when the aim was to suppress the people by force.

Yoon said his intention, rather, was to issue a plea to the people in the form of martial law and inform them of the emergency the nation was facing. 

He said he was at the apex of his power and could have opted to enjoy the benefits of a comfortable life upon his retirement as president if he had been thinking only of himself.
 
The suspended president likened the state of the nation at the time he declared martial law to a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water, unaware of what was happening.

Addressing the South Korean people, Yoon also apologized for the confusion and inconvenience he caused when he issued the decree, saying he did so for the good of the nation and the people but his intentions were misunderstood.