[News Today] YOON’S 2ND IMPEACHMENT HEARING

[LEAD]
The impeachment trial against President Yoon Suk Yeol is now fully underway. Yesterday's three-hour hearing saw the National Assembly's team arguing fiercely. They claim President Yoon shows no intent to uphold the constitution and have asked the Constitutional Court to remove him from office. On the other side, President Yoon's lawyers defended the martial law as peaceful, accusing the opposition of framing it as an insurrection to justify their impeachment actions.

[REPORT]
The impeachment hearing on President Yoon Suk Yeol is in full swing.

The National Assembly's impeachment team demanded the Constitutional Court dismiss the president, arguing that the declaration of martial law gravely threatened people's safety.

The team stated that Yoon's martial law violated the constitution and the law and that he has no will to uphold the constitution.

Jung Chung-rae/ Head, Nat'l Assembly Impeachment Team
He has not an iota of will to defend the Constitution. He keeps saying and
doing things that could be suspected as his intention to declare a second martial law once he is reinstated as president.

Meanwhile, President Yoon's team countered that martial law was an inevitable choice to build the foundation of democracy.

The president's attorneys spent a considerable amount of time talking about the allegedly rigged election and claimed that the opposition party impeached the president to wrest political power from him.

Jo Dae-hyun/ President Yoon's Representative
The opposition party with the parliamentary majority is not working for the state and the people, but using all resources and means to wrest political power.

The president's legal team asked the Constitutional Court to postpone the second hearing on the account of the anti-corruption agency's investigation of the president, but the court held the hearing as scheduled because there was no valid reason to change the date.

The Constitutional Court fixed three more hearing dates in addition to the five hearings already scheduled.

Six witnesses were called to the impeachment trial. They are ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, military commanders Kwak Jong-keun, Lee Jin-woo and Yeo In-hyeong, former intelligence agency deputy chief Hong Jang-won, and National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho.

President Yoon's attorneys argued that the hearings that take place about twice a week are too close apart, but the court maintained that the dates will stay because the schedule had already been fully discussed.

The Constitutional Court also accepted surveilance camera footage from the National Assembly and the National Election Commission during martial law as evidence.