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Near the start of the hearing, Yoon Suk Yeol\u00a0said he had worked in public service with “a firm commitment to free democracy”, when invited by the acting chief justice, Moon Hyung-bae, to speak.<\/p>\n
Dressed in a navy-colored suit with a burgundy tie, Yoon, a career prosecutor before his 2022 election as president, pledged to answer any questions the court might have, Reuters news agency reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Yoon has been incarcerated\u00a0since last week under separate criminal charges of leading an insurrection through his attempt to impose martial law\u00a0in early December, a move that shocked the nation and was overturned within hours by parliament.<\/p>\n
Yoon told the hearing that special forces troops sent to parliament on Dec. 3 were not there to disable the legislature or prevent it from blocking his martial law because he knew such an action would have led to an indefensible crisis.<\/p>\n
“In this country, parliament and news media are far more powerful than the president, in a far superior position,” he told the court.<\/p>\n
His lawyers outlined arguments in defence of Yoon’s martial law declaration, saying it was meant to sound the alarm over abuses committed by the opposition Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
MA\/PR<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n