The Constitutional Court said there was no serious crisis facing the nation that could have justified a declaration of martial law on December 3, rejecting now former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s defense at his impeachment trial in which he cited the National Assembly’s exercise of its impeachment powers.

Moon Hyung-bae, the court’s acting president, announced the ruling Friday explaining the unanimous decision to uphold a parliamentary motion to impeach Yoon over his martial law move. 

Moon said the Assembly cannot be regarded as having caused a major crisis in the nation by exercising its power to impeach government officials and deliberate budget proposals.

The justice said that even if the Assembly had acted unlawfully or unjustly, this would not justify the invocation of the president’s emergency powers as Yoon’s side had argued. 

Moon added that the opposition’s bills Yoon mentioned in his defense never took effect, as Yoon vetoed them or withheld their promulgation, and that the 2025 budget proposal could not have had any impact on the country in early December, when the 2024 budget was still being executed.