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Yoon Suk-yeol smiles while speaking to his lawyers during the final hearing of his trial at the Seoul Central District Court on charges of orchestrating an insurrection, held on Jan. 13, 2026. (courtesy of the Seoul Central District Court)

Yoon Suk-yeol issued no apology for his shocking declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, during the final hearing of his trial on charges of orchestrating an insurrection, instead maintaining the specious argument that his actions were a cautionary measure he was forced to take due to the “wickedness of anti-state forces.”

Tuesday’s hearing began at 9:30 am in a courtroom of the Seoul Central District Court and lasted until after midnight, with Yoon beginning his final statement at 12:11 am on Wednesday. 

“I announced the start [of martial law] in a broadcast to the entire country and world, and within two hours, the National Assembly told me to stop, and I did. Is that an insurrection?” Yoon asked the court. “Troops deployed with empty guns with no bullets. Have you ever seen such an insurrection?” 

Yoon’s final statement to the court was a reprise of the argument he made during his impeachment trial before the Constitutional Court, where he claimed that his declaration of martial law was a plea to the public. 

While standing trial for the last year, both regarding his impeachment and his abortive martial law declaration, Yoon remained adamant that his actions were justified. 

The former president once again argued that he had no choice but to declare martial law to alert the public to the gravity of alleged election-rigging by the National Election Commission in a situation where the opposition Democratic Party, with its overwhelming majority in the National Assembly, blocked his policies and initiatives, slashed his budgets, and was impeaching people left and right. 

Yoon accused the Democratic Party of forming an “unconstitutional legislative dictatorship.” 

“They want to completely overturn the country’s status as a liberal democracy, as part of the global free market system, and as an ally of the free world. They are trying to overthrow the system,” he argued before the court.

When criticizing the special counsel, Yoon’s tone became even rougher. Yoon described the special counsel probe into the martial law crisis as “performing a deranged war dance typical of a political purge and suppression,” and likened it to a “pack of wolves ferociously swarming in for the kill at the Democratic Party’s signal.”

“They accuse me of trying to install a long-term dictatorship through martial law. Why didn’t they tell me beforehand, so that I could learn from them?” Yoon said while glaring at the prosecution. 

After the special counsel requested the death penalty for Yoon, the former president’s face visibly reddened. Yoon read a statement he’d prepared, taking around 90 minutes. His voice was husky, and his brow often furrowed. 

By Oh Yeon-seo, staff reporter; Park Ji-young, staff reporter

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