Yoon Told Aide 'Martial Law Was Just an Action,' Court Testimony Reveals

Former President Yoon Suk-yeol personally contacted the Presidential Office's foreign press spokesperson the day after declaring emergency martial law last year, instructing the aide to tell foreign media that "martial law was just an action," according to court testimony on Monday.

The Seoul Central District Court's 35th Criminal Division held a continued hearing on charges against Yoon, including obstruction of special public duty execution and abuse of authority, and examined Ha Tae-won, former foreign press spokesperson for the Presidential Office.

Ha testified that on December 4 last year, the day after the martial law declaration, Yoon called him directly to explain the situation and instructed him to distribute press guidance. Ha said he drafted the guidance himself, had Yoon confirm it, and then disseminated it to reporters.

When the special counsel presented a news article titled "Controversy over 'Martial Law Was Just an Action' Press Guidance Provided to Foreign Reporters" and asked whether this was the content Ha had delivered, Ha responded that he had conveyed the message verbally rather than in written form.

Ha added that he transcribed exactly what Yoon said during the phone call and relayed it verbally to foreign reporters without adding or removing anything.

"It was the first explanation coming directly from the president's own voice," Ha said. "I believed it was proper journalistic practice to at least convey the primary stakeholder's own explanation."

He stated he had no awareness of spreading false information.

"I am not an advisor, I am a secretary," Ha said. "I believed my duty was to convey what the sitting president explained without making judgments about right or wrong."

However, regarding the martial law declaration itself, Ha said, "I was also bewildered and wondered what I could do as a public servant in this situation. I think it was not appropriate."

Yoon, given an opportunity to speak directly, said, "Typically in any organization, what spokespersons or public affairs officials do is convey that organization's position. Facts are what reporters investigate, and it takes time to know what the facts are."

"Public affairs sometimes tell stories that differ from the facts," Yoon continued. "When something is difficult to disclose for national interest, you can deny it. You don't call it false public information just because something wasn't properly explained through a spokesperson for reasons of national interest."

His remarks were a rebuttal to the special counsel's claim that Yoon abused his authority by ordering the dissemination of press guidance containing false information to foreign media.

During the subsequent examination of Yoo Chang-hoon, former deputy spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yoon said, "After the martial law and the public announcement, are you aware that the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying they were concerned about Korea's martial law declaration but were relieved to see the constitution and democracy restored?"

The remark suggested Yoon delivered the press guidance for reasons of national interest.