ACCUSATIONS OF PLOTTING
Prosecutors also told the court that former army intelligence commander Noh Sang-won visited Kim’s residence every day from four days before the martial law order, and ordered military officers to prepare equipment such as cable ties to arrest election commission officials.
Lawyers for Kim say Noh, who is a co-defendant charged with insurrection, had nothing to do with the martial law and no connection to Yoon.
Noh was also accused of discussing military deployment plans with incumbent army officers at a Lotteria fast-food burger joint, two days before Yoon declared martial law, a police official has previously said.
During Monday’s opening arguments, prosecutor Yoo Byung-kuk, said martial law was not justified because it was not “a state of national emergency, or equivalent to wartime”.
“They (Kim and Yoon) mobilised the military and police to blockade the National Assembly … arrested and detained officials at the National Election Commission without a warrant,” said Yoo.
In reply, Kim’s lawyer Lee Ha-sang said prosecutors’ accusations were insufficient to amount to a crime of insurrection.
“Insurrection means harming stability and peace over a long time, but we don’t understand that martial command’s work such as restricting access could fit as insurrection,” he said.
Yoon is also facing a criminal trial for insurrection, though he was freed from detention earlier this month.
In addition, the president is waiting on an impeachment ruling expected in the coming days from the Constitutional Court to decide whether to remove him from office.
