[Issue Plus] President Yoon attends impeachment trial... "Firm belief in liberal democracy"

■ Host: Lee Yeo-jin, anchor Jang Won-seok
■ Starring: Choi Soo-young, current affairs critic, and Park Won-seok, former lawmaker of the Justice Party

* The text below may differ from the actual broadcast content, so please check the broadcast for more accurate information. Please specify [YTN News Special] when quoting.

[Anchor]
Let's take a look at today's Jungkook situation with the two. Choi Soo-young, a current affairs critic, and Park Won-seok, a former lawmaker of the Justice Party, came out. Please come in. The Constitutional Court held the third hearing of President Yoon's impeachment trial at 2 p.m. today, and President Yoon attended in person for the first time. Is this the first time an impeached president will appear before the Constitutional Court?

[Choi Soo-young]
This is my first time. So, there were many predictions that President Yoon would probably attend the Constitutional Court when the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is completed and prosecution is completed, and the lawyers seem to have set such a strategy in the first place, but the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is being carried out so strongly right now, and from the president's point of view, I cannot respond to the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit in principle, because it is illegal. Since we are holding that position, then it would be the most efficient and valid judgment to appear at the Constitutional Court and reveal it directly to explain the president's position on martial law and the justification, or the reason why he had to judge it that way. That's how the president himself and the lawyers seem to have been together.

So I attended for the first time, and the total time felt short today anyway, but since President Yoon has expressed his position on key issues very clearly, how the Constitutional Court will interpret this will be the watershed in the future.

[Anchor]
I'll tell you the news that just came in. The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit reported that six prosecutors and investigators from the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit visited the Seoul Detention Center. It was said that the purpose of a face-to-face investigation with the forced recruitment of the president of Yoon Suk Yeol. It hasn't been long since President Yoon Suk Yeol returned from the Constitutional Court today, so what should I say about the intentions of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit?

[Park Won-seok]
First of all, even if the president of Yoon Suk Yeol continues to refuse to comply with the request for attendance from the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit and the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit visits the detention center for face-to-face investigations, he has to come to the investigation room. If you look at it now, you can hear that they are refusing to even come out to the investigation room. Then, the only means that can be taken is to force a conviction, but in principle, it is a principle to force a conviction as an investigative agency.

However, considering that he is an incumbent president, even if he does not forcibly recruit investigative agencies, he will forcefully recruit him so that he can conduct face-to-face investigations at a separate investigation room in the detention center, but since he is an incumbent president, it is not easy to forcefully recruit him by mobilizing his physical strength.

In a way, it would be at the level of asking for cooperation in the investigation by President Yoon, but it seems to me that President Yoon has no intention of responding to the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. In the end, I wonder if this parallel line of confrontation will continue, but some cautiously say that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has 10 days to investigate before the indictment, and the remaining 10 days were agreed upon by each other when the case was transferred to the prosecution in the first place so that the prosecution could investigate the case, but if the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit's investigation is expected to have little effect, it will be handed over to the prosecution quickly, and there is no guarantee that President Yoon will cooperate with the prosecution's investigation anyway.

The prosecution also has a controversy over the investigation rights and the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. However, it is self-obsessed and self-denial that he/she is a former prosecutor and refuses to investigate the prosecution, and the prosecution has secured considerable evidence by investigating and prosecuting those involved.

Some say that if it is difficult for the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit to be carefully effective, it would be better to quickly hand over the case to the prosecution and have the prosecution investigate it before the indictment.

[Anchor]
Six prosecutors and investigators visited the detention center at around 3 p.m. yesterday, but didn't the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit stop the compulsory detention process at around 9 p.m., six hours after President Yoon's continued refusal? President Yoon has not cooperated with the investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit due to the attendance of the Constitutional Court and the preparation of arguments with the lawyers, do you think it will continue to be like this?

[Choi Soo-young]
That's right. President Yoon has already made it clear that it was illegal and unfair even when an arrest warrant was executed. And it's controversial that the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit doesn't have the right to investigate rebellion, so many people know, but the president is more an expert than anyone else on the law, so I think there's no reason for me to make a statement on the violation.

What's more important is that the pressure of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is such an early attendance. Because the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit may actually be in charge of the investigation, but there is nothing, no meaningful statement or meaningful investigation result except for pressuring the president.

That's why the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is supposed to divide the arrest deadline by the 28th, but I don't mean much, as Representative Park said, but if you push and pull in this state and it's 9 p.m., the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit cannot recruit you.

Because it is legally impossible after 9 p.m. due to the protection of personal human rights, then what is the point of the investigation by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit? What's the point of saying that the president has to come to the Constitutional Court and use the right to object and the right to make a statement. What's the point of continuing to come to the presidential detention center and say that he will find another way to find a job after organizing the investigation records and transferring it to the prosecution?

[Anchor]
The prosecution continues to tell the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit to transfer the President Yoon's case early, but is there anything the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit can do now?

[Park Won-seok]
First of all, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit continues to try to force President Yoon to respond to the investigation and pressure him, but it is difficult to force him to use his physical force from the standpoint of the incumbent president and still being guarded.

Usually, if a general suspect refuses to come out of the detention center in that way and refuses to come out of the investigation, he actually uses his physical force. Given that he is a sitting president, it doesn't seem easy to me, but then there is no proper measure for the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit.

The reason why the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit keeps trying that is because President Yoon continues to disobey the rule of law and defies the investigation agency's demands, and the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit seems to be accumulating justifications according to the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, but time is passing, so we have to transfer to the prosecution. But 20 days seems long, but 20 days is never long.

As a period of investigation before prosecution against the incumbent president. Then, there is a growing opinion that the prosecution should hand it over to the prosecution as soon as possible so that the prosecution can investigate anyway, and of course, there is no guarantee that President Yoon will cooperate with the prosecution's investigation. Similarly, there is no investigative power. While making such claims, there is a possibility that the prosecution's investigation will be equally uncooperative.

Then, the prosecution will be in a very difficult situation, and in the past, former President Lee Myung Bak urged the prosecution to respond to the prosecution's investigation several times in response to the prosecution's investigation, and went out to the detention center to conduct a business trip investigation, but did not respond to it, so he just prosecuted it. I think there is a high possibility that such precedents will be referenced again this time.

[Anchor]
You said that the prosecution can come out uncooperative because it does not have the right to investigate, do you agree?

[Choi Sooyoung
]It could be a little different. Because the prosecution has already written a complaint against major related workers and handed it over to the prosecution. Then, from the prosecution's point of view, from the president's point of view, the key workers made this statement and handed it over to the trial as evidence, but they can say, "Wait, no."

Because if you don't say it, what if it's adopted as evidence by their arguments? So I think it depends on how the prosecution does it. What is the president's position on this, listing all the things that major related workers have stated? Is this true or not? It's unfavorable, if we do this, it's unfavorable to the president, so please do it in order to find out the actual truth. In one way or another, it's an investigative technique.

So I'm different from the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit actually did nothing but investigate the president. Even though I couldn't investigate the president. However, the prosecution has already completed its investigation on all matters and handed them over to the prosecution.

If it's such a case, the trial is already ahead, but the related workers can enter the trial in early February. To receive final confirmation from the president. And if you guide the investigation well in order to hear the final answer to the president about the facts, it depends on the prosecution's ability to investigate because if the president is worried about the merits and demerits of the trial, he can confirm the truth or the facts to some extent.

[Anchor]
Will President Yoon use the binding pride card?

[Park Won-seok]
You can apply for an arrest suit.With the warrant issued in the investigation of the validity of the arrest warrant, it is unlikely that the results will change significantly even if you apply for a legality in the current situation. However, that is also a procedure, and if we look at President Yoon Suk Yeol's defense strategy now, we will fight all possible procedures. Arrested pride last time is a representative example.

Arrested pride is really ineffective, but I also applied for it. Of course, it's been rejected. From that point of view, there is a possibility of applying for an arrest suit, and there is a possibility of using the chapter of an arrest suit as a place to claim the unfairness of arrest once again in the process of an arrest suit.

[Anchor]
It was the first time in 49 days since the December 3 emergency martial law incident that the president appeared in person at the Constitutional Court today. I wore a navy suit and a red tie, and there was an analysis that it was similar to what it was when martial law was declared.

[Choi Soo-young]
I think it's the same. Of course, there are some that have similar suits colors, but I think a navy suit is right. I think the necktie is probably the same necktie. Actually, the way we send messages is that there is also an image.

It is another meaningful statement to the Constitutional Court with a sense of urgency to justify and justify the emergency by wearing the same clothes that I desperately did at the time of the declaration of the emergency martial law, and to state the various circumstances that the president judged at the time. If I remember correctly, there were two other press conferences similar to the public apology that the president would then discuss his term with the people's power.

So, I know there was a reading of the statement, but I think it was probably the tie and outfit that were similar then. I don't think the president did it as a defense strategy, but isn't it part of his strategy to bring his justification and justification for martial law to the Constitutional Court and penetrate it consistently with his image? Of course, you can wear clothes without circumstances, but if you interpret it, I interpret it as having a high possibility.

[Anchor]
This is the president looking neat today. a suit, not a prison uniform Does this apply to all people? Or is it a level of respect because you are the president?

[Park Won-seok]
It's not that there's a courtesy because you're the president. According to the law on execution of sentences, in principle, ordinary clothes are required to be worn outside the detention facility, for example, when they go to court or investigate the prosecution. In the past, prisoners on trial wore prison uniforms, but the rules were all revised, so I didn't give special consideration because I was the president today, or I didn't give special consideration because I was a politician, but according to the law on execution of sentences, ordinary people are also tried like that according to the general principles.

That's why I think I came out to court in a suit. But if you look at it now, I think I got a little makeup from the president rather than wearing that suit. Since he is an incumbent president, he is also protected, and I think he came out dressed up to be in front of the public through such a simple makeup right before he leaves the court.

[Anchor]
It started at 2 o'clock, but the third pleading date ended in an hour and 43 minutes. Should I say this is short?

[Choi Soo-young]
I look at it like this. You're going to have psychology in the future. There is nothing to do until the night like you are cramming for today, and isn't the day after tomorrow scheduled? But today, I think there were explanations about the situation that reflected a lot of President Yoon's positions, and starting with today's remarks, the Constitutional Court judges will organize again and probably ask questions again at the next hearing.

Then there were a number of debates today, but in a big way, the most important things today are not that I have made a serious violation of the constitutional law. However, today, when explaining the situation that I had to do when I was so desperate, it seems to be a bit of a general hearing, so I think it will take more time in a series of hearings from Thursday, but I think it will be a form in which the criticism and the National Assembly's prosecutors and agents will compete for each case.

[Anchor]
I was also very interested in what the president would say at the Constitutional Court. We'll listen to what we prepared first and continue talking.

[Yoon Suk Yeol / President: I'm sorry to the judges that you've suffered so much from my impeachment case even though your work has been aggravated by various constitutional lawsuits. I am a person who has lived firmly with one belief of liberal democracy, especially in public life since I grew up. As the Constitutional Court is also an institution that exists to protect the Constitution, I ask the judges to take a good look at it in many ways. ]

[Anchor]
Judge Moon Hyung-bae said he was sorry to the judge, and when Judge Moon Hyung-bae asked if the respondent himself was present, he stood up and bowed his head. And the president stood up and waited until the court left the court, and then the president left the court. Is it 180 degrees different from the president's attitude toward the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit?

[Park Won-seok]
That's right. Isn't that a court over there, and moreover, the Constitutional Court? I think it's the best court in which you're holding your own disciplinary trial, so it's a courtesy to the court. In a way, it is an institution that cannot issue warrants while refusing to comply with warrants issued by the Western District Court, including the investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit. Compared to the attitude he treated like this, he seemed to have shown a very different attitude today. Considering the nature of the impeachment trial, if he showed such a high-handed attitude even when he was present or did not respect the constitutional judges or the Constitutional Court, the backlash would be very strong, and President Yoon was a lifelong prosecutor before he became a politician. The manners of the court, I'm familiar with this.

In the courtroom, everyone stands up when a judge enters anyway because it is a basic principle and courtesy in the courtroom, so I think that's a habit.

[Anchor]
I emphasized the belief in liberal democracy. What do you mean by this?

[Choi Soo-young]
If you look at the president's inaugural address, the word liberal democracy appears a lot. And actually, in the president's official speeches, liberal democracy appears in a lot of public speeches, not just the March 1st and August 15th congratulations. So the president was talking about this. After all, if the Constitutional Court says it will impeach now, isn't this the most important key issue?

Whether it betrayed the confidence of the people, whether it was unacceptable from the perspective of protecting the constitution, and whether the benefit from dismissing the president was greater or smaller than the national loss. Don't you think we're going to go into detail about this? However, this is the value that President Yoon has emphasized since he took office. It means that declaring martial law is in line with this.

So, what this means is that there are various types of threats and confusion in state administration, and it runs through the most basic principles. From that point of view, I declared martial law, and if the president is responsible for protecting the constitution, I will be able to accept it. I did it because I had the right to declare it because I had the right to declare it, and the confusion of various forms of state administration that I saw the most when I operated the right to declare it was feared to undermine the protection of liberal democracy.

I think I kept emphasizing the word liberal democracy today to talk about the general theory, but I've been consistent with President Yoon rather than saying it because I'm a constitutional court. What about liberal democracy and the protection of the rule of law? Therefore, it is predicted that the Constitutional Court will continue to make arguments with these two-pronged techniques in this respect in the future.

[Anchor]
And President Yoon once again claimed that he declared an emergency martial law because there was a need for an investigation into fraudulent elections. We'll listen to this and continue talking.

[Yoon Suk Yeol / President: Before declaring martial law, there were many questions about the fairness of these elections, and after inspecting a small portion of the NIS's computer equipment in October 2023, there were many problems. Not to search for fraudulent elections, but to screen the NEC's computer system in general. It wasn't to raise a conspiracy theory that the election was all fraudulent and not to believe it was to check the facts.... ]

[Anchor]
I'm not asking you to search for the election itself, but screen the overall system of the NEC. How did you hear that?

[Park Won-seok]
I think the president is saying something that doesn't make sense. Isn't there no reason at all to prepare to send the military to forcefully confiscate the servers and take away the NEC staff to screen? In a way, as soon as martial law was declared with the purpose of finding evidence with confidence that it was a fraudulent election, the martial law army entered another institution, the NEC, following the National Assembly, and showed that as the Korean people have seen, right? In addition to

and other criticisms suspected by President Yoon have been raised in the NEC in several places, which have been verified several times through the rulings of the police, prosecutors, and courts. Therefore, the election fraud is nothing more than raising false suspicions, and the NEC has expressed its position several times on the NIS' computer inspection. There was nothing wrong with it.

However, the Constitutional Court is still raising suspicions about the same level of conspiracy, and if the president really has a problem with the election committee, there may be enough ways to check the situations in which he or she feels a problem through the Ministry of Public Administration and Security or the police, but I don't think that can be a legitimate reason or basis for declaring martial law.
I don't know how the Constitutional Court judges will judge, but I think it's difficult to have much convincing power and can give some signal to the supporters.

Considering that, it seems that President Yoon's willingness to actively attend the Constitutional Court trial and make his case is also aimed at rallying his supporters and giving them a confident message.

[Choi Soo-young]
I have a slightly different opinion, of course, and the president has made it clear. I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but let's screen to see if the equipment and things like this are operating properly and check the facts. I think because for a while, we've actually decided to do several checks at the same time since 2020.

So, since we were a digital powerhouse until then, the election management system of the NEC has continued to develop mainly in this digitalized way, but if you look at it again, the password is 12345 or it is easily vulnerable to hacking. Then, the National Intelligence Service checked the security and confirmed it.

As a result, how bad did the election management become, not through external work or internal organizational movements, or the process of putting absentee ballots in a basket and putting them in the ballot box at night, as we saw in the last presidential election, have had an adverse effect on the spread of fraudulent elections?

Overall, let's take a look at the president's use of the word screen. In that respect, didn't the martial law army take a picture of the server at that time, and the NEC said that there was no data that was taken out?

So, rather than saying that this was related to fraudulent elections, I said that I looked into election management as a president because I was worried that the election management would cause public concern and confusion, but it's another matter how the court will judge this.Ma will probably be very refuted by the National Assembly's prosecutors.

But in the end, I think this is an issue that can spread further depending on what evidence the lawyers bring up in the future.

[Anchor]
There was also a question from Moon Hyung-bae, acting head of the Constitutional Court, regarding the order to arrest lawmakers. Let's listen to this as well.

[Moon Hyung-bae / Acting President of the Constitutional Court: Lee Jin-woo, commander of the Water Defense Command, and Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the Special Forces Command, have you ever instructed the National Assembly to bring down lawmakers who gathered in the National Assembly to resolve martial law after declaring martial law? ]

[Yoon Suk Yeol / President] None. ]

[Anchor]
He claimed that he had no intention of enforcing the decree and that the arrest and death order of politicians was not true. The reason for putting the military into the National Assembly was to prepare for a situation where citizens were flocking. That's what I said. How did you like it?

[Park Won-seok]
But if the military put it in to prepare for a crowded situation, there would have been no reason to put it in so preemptively, no reason to break the window and try to break into the plenary session of the National Assembly. He is saying something completely different from the scenes that the people witnessed, and the commander of the special forces and the commander of the defense command have already received direct instructions from the president during the investigation.

I told him that I was repeatedly instructed to break it down and pull it out because it wasn't a quorum yet, but he made a statement that was completely contradictory to him. In the future, the Constitutional Court will probably interrogate witnesses during the impeachment trial, but I think these conflicting statements during the witness examination process will be controversial once again.

If the president denies the facts that he has already received confessions from key civil servants in an investigative agency or has been prosecuted based on those statements, I think there is a possibility that he will make the Constitutional Court more distrustful of the credibility of President Yoon's statements in the impeachment trial.

[Anchor]
It will be a very important issue that contradicts existing testimony, how did you hear it?

[Choi Soo-young]
The reason why martial law forces were put into the National Assembly, this is the most important key point of the requirements for the establishment of civil war crimes. So, in a way, Judge Moon Hyung-bae asked one of the most important questions today, rather than other peripheral questions. However, he said firmly in four letters, "There is no president," but if major related workers are selected as witnesses and appear at the Constitutional Court's trial, it contradicts the president's answer, assuming that they do what the prosecution stated.

It is said that they received instructions through the secret weapon, so how will they prove this? Whether the commanders made arbitrary judgments in such a chaotic situation in which the military was being deployed, or whether former Minister Kim Yong-hyun indirectly communicated that it was the president's order, there could be more various factors of interpretation.In any case, if it is proved that he is not the president here, the president is given legal authority over the rumor that this is a warning martial law, so the president said this briefly and firmly, so even if the witnesses related to the key workers talk about it in the future, whether they can prove it will be very important. I think the key point is how the Constitutional Court judges will prove and judge this.

[Park Won-seok]
A constitutional trial is not a criminal trial, so it does not mean that the court is responsible for proof or that witness examination is conducted to prove it. In any case, whether the declaration of emergency martial law constitutes a serious violation of constitutional law or not. In other words, it is the process of judging whether it was such a declaration of emergency martial law that did not meet the requirements of declaring martial law or not, so who will be responsible for proving statements that contradict that very precisely. And I will tell you whether the constitutional judges will determine the authenticity, that the trial will not proceed in this way.

[Anchor]
On the other hand, there was also a presidential response to video evidence from the National Assembly's prosecution committee that tried to prevent the lifting of martial law. Let's listen to this and talk about it.

[Yoon Suk Yeol / President: If you put in the military to interfere with the decision made on the night of December 3rd and 4th, then will it no longer be able to demand the lifting of martial law and will martial law continue?] I don't think so. In South Korea, the National Assembly and the media are much stronger than the president. If I force myself not to make a decision to lift martial law, I can do it in a place other than the National Assembly, and I can ask for the lifting of martial law as much as I want. If you block it, I don't think it's something you can handle. What I want to say is that it is not something that is blocked or prevented by acting at that time. ]

[Anchor]
It doesn't block or block just because you're acting. And what do you think is the intention of saying that the National Assembly and the media are much stronger than the president?

[Choi Soo-young]
Doesn't the president have the right to declare martial law stipulated in the law? In addition, the National Assembly has voting rights to lift martial law as stipulated in the law. I declared it, and the National Assembly voted to lift martial law, and even if the military could not vote on it at the time, it could have been done through some form of voting.

And what we said was first class with the media is actually not only legacy media, but how fast are we actually spreading public opinion at an ultra-high speed through SNS? When I asked them to gather somewhere, it was delivered quickly through their SNS, but if I kept pushing for martial law in such a situation, would this martial law have been maintained?
I think he said that's an impossible story. Anyway, I think this is an assumption of an emergency, but isn't it true that the National Assembly requested the lifting of martial law within an hour and a half or two hours? Anyway, I didn't accept it immediately, but the president declared martial law to be lifted at around 4 a.m. after the voting rights to lift martial law came.

That's why if you look at the timeline like this, the president didn't drag it out or force it to interfere with the National Assembly once again to carry out any intention, but in reality, when the opposition party, which has nearly two-thirds of seats, and the media landscape, and our people's fast social media, it was inevitable that even if I did it eventually, it would be canceled. This is literally a martial law to show it. And then, for a moment, I think I said that in some way here to advocate martial law to evoke a national crisis.

[Park Won-seok]
I think it's such a brazen post-mortem excuse and a lie. The whole nation witnessed it through live broadcasts that day, but anyway, police blocked the access of lawmakers around the National Assembly, forcing a large number of lawmakers to go over the wall. If it was not for the purpose of preventing the resolution to lift martial law, on what basis can the police prevent lawmakers from entering the National Assembly?

In addition, there was no reason for martial law forces to break through the window and enter the National Assembly building to break into the plenary session of the National Assembly. So, I tried to prevent the martial law from being lifted in the National Assembly.I haven't achieved my goal, and now I'm shamelessly making a post-mortem excuse by using lies like that, but I think President Yoon is still showing the appearance of a certain criminal with no guilt at all.

Will that really have a good effect on the Constitutional Court justices? Because the whole nation watched the process. The police had no choice but to cross the wall and enter the National Assembly precinct, and they saw the attempt to break the National Assembly window and break into the plenary session, and even if they had done so, the National Assembly could have lifted martial law, and the Constitutional Court said that to mock the entire nation.

[Anchor]
And it's also a very important content. President Yoon also denied that he had never given a note to draw up a budget related to the emergency legislative body to replace the National Assembly at the time of martial law. Let's listen to it.

[Moon Hyung-bae / Acting President of the Constitutional Court: Have you ever given a note to the Minister of Strategy and Finance to draw up a budget for emergency legislative bodies? ]

[Yoon Suk Yeol / President] I never gave this to him, and I saw in the article that this note came out in the media a long time after lifting this martial law. The article is a little inaccurate, and then the only person who can make this is the defense minister, but the defense minister was arrested at that time and could not confirm it in detail. However, if you look at the content, the content itself seems to contradict each other.. ]

[Anchor]
Acting President Choi Sang-mok said that President Yoon gave it to him, but President Yoon said today that he never gave it to him. In fact, I can't remember whether former Minister Kim wrote it or me during the interrogation of the suspect before his arrest on the 18th three days ago. The nuance seems to have changed a little from the answer that he did not intend to do the emergency legislative body properly.

[Park Won-seok]
The words keep changing. Is it true that the judge in charge of the warrant asked only one question during the investigation of the validity of the arrest warrant, but he delivered a note asking him to prepare an emergency legislative body? They said they checked this. But in a way, it's a very important issue of the purpose of rebellion.

Insurrection is a riot for the purpose of excluding state power and disrupting the national constitution under our constitution and law. However, if you created an emergency legislative body and tried to dissolve the National Assembly and replace it, it has a clear purpose to exclude state power and disturb the national constitution.

The warrant judge asked a very key question, and I never did that in today's Constitutional Court. I'm not answering that way, but I'm not sure if I wrote it or Minister Kim Yong-hyun wrote it. I gave a vague answer like this. I personally assume that I issued a warrant after judging that the criminal charges were cleared through it, but I have never delivered such a question to the same question today.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok had already gone to the investigative agency and received it from the president, but it was judged to be related to martial law, so he just stayed in our line. I'm talking about another story that contradicts him with the issue stated like this, but in common sense, there's no reason for acting authority Choi Sang-mok to lie like that.

In a way, he changed his words after the fact that this could be a key issue, especially in relation to the allegations of civil war. That's what I think.

[Anchor]
Didn't former Minister Kim Yong-hyun say yesterday that he was the one who wrote the memo after that? And then did it affect the president's remarks today?

[Choi Soo-young]
Didn't you say I did it when the president said he couldn't remember about it? Minister Kim Yong-hyun. This is probably what I'm saying about the contradiction of this. No, there is no right to dissolve the National Assembly, but a separate legislative body does not dissolve the National Assembly. It seems that he pointed out the contradiction of whether it makes sense to do it when there is no right to dissolve and then establish a new organization.

So, the reason why the decree No. 1 is a little controversial here is because Minister Kim Yong-hyun has been just using and copying what happened during the military dictatorship, but the same is true for the National Assembly's right to disband. It was there then, but with the current constitution, this is not possible, but there is a contradiction, so this is a question that the president would have done something so contradictory to say that I didn't do it.

Former Minister Kim Yong-hyun usually excessively prepared for this martial law, so what he mainly referred to was not these phenomena that fit the current era, but anyway, referring to the past military regime at that time, such as the decree and the legislative body at that time, I think he said that today.

[Anchor]
After the conclusion ended today, lawyer Yoon Gap-geun said that if Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun comes out as a witness on the 23rd of the day after tomorrow, he will talk about it then. How do you predict how the questions will come and go and how the questions will be solved through such a conversation?

[Park Won-seok]
The interrogation will not be conducted in a way that the Constitutional Court confronts each other.

[Anchor]
You're saying that President Yoon can't ask questions directly, right?

[Park Won-seok]
And maybe there are things that the court should check while interrogating Minister Kim Yong-hyun's witnesses. I think the witness examination will be conducted in the form of confirmation from former Minister Kim Yong-hyun. Regarding the decree, Minister Kim Yong-hyun told the investigative agency that he had drafted it himself, but the president asked him to review it and remove the curfew, which is the No. 1 decree.

In other words, the president has even seen all political activities prohibited by political parties, the National Assembly, and local councils. However, the president later said that there was an error when writing it by hand referring to the National Assembly's right to disband in the past, but Minister Kim Yong-hyun's representative is a normally written decree. The President has also considered it. I refuted it like this.

They seem to be shifting the blame between each other, but I don't know how Minister Kim Yong-hyun will appear at the Constitutional Court and state that part.Considering the circumstances that have been developed so far, it is not true that Minister Kim Yong-hyun wrote it, President Yoon reviewed it, and referred to the old decree, but there is no such content in the old decree.

Although there is a comprehensive ban on all political activities, there is no specific ban on political activities by the National Assembly, political parties, and local councils, and for example, there is no way that this will be in the old decree. Now I'm shifting my responsibilities that don't make sense. It looks like this.

[Anchor]
The Constitutional Court's interrogation of former Minister Kim Yong-hyun will be held the day after tomorrow, but it was originally next month, but wasn't it accelerated by President Yoon's request? You became the first witness, but why did President Yoon apply for this first time?

[Choi Soo-young]
Everyone originally predicted that President Yoon would come out after the Lunar New Year's Day, but isn't the second round of the Constitutional Court's hearing coming out the fastest? Likewise, the most important issue right now is that. Writing a decree, so in fact, former Minister Kim Yong-hyun seems to be one body with President Yoon in a way, but if it is separated, it could be a matter that President Yoon could be free from responsibility.

Of course, it is President Yoon who is at the peak of everything, but the person who actually worked most importantly was also the person who actually controlled the situation, Minister Kim Yong-hyun. Therefore, it seems that President Yoon quickly applied for former Minister Kim Yong-hyun because he can quickly shake off what he has to do with each other only when it is sorted out in a short period of time.

Of course, it's been more than a month since former Minister Kim came out.I think the most controversial issue will be whether the prosecution's indictment contradicts the statements of what he said that could be adopted as evidence and whether the statements in the Constitutional Court are contrary.

In that respect, isn't this the most urgent thing for the president to take the Constitutional Court's hearing quickly and quickly, adopt the most important person as a witness, and organize his position through disputes or issues between each other?

[Anchor]
But today, the National Assembly asked President Yoon to question witnesses while he is retired. It has no influence on the president because he is suspended from his job. Since I don't understand the request for separation from the witness, the court said it would go through a review, but will the witnesses actually feel burdened?

[Park Won-seok]
That's possible. Still a sitting president. And from the standpoint of assisting the incumbent president not long ago, I think I have to pay considerable burden and considerable consciousness to make a statement in front of the president. So, in principle, I think it's right to do it separately, and of course, I don't know what the judges will decide because they said they will go through a review.Ma said, "In the future, the same problem will arise even if not only former Minister Kim Yong-hyun but also other related witnesses attend, so shouldn't we take such measures to separate the witnesses so that they can state their facts in the constitutional trial process according to their conscience?" That way, I think I can get a more objective statement.

[Anchor]
In fact, the president's side said that he would attend the court when the Constitutional Court was cleared for withdrawing the rebellion from the grounds for impeachment, but hasn't it been sorted out yet?

[Choi Soo-young]
That's a very important part, but since no one can enforce it and only the justice department can decide this, I think the justice department is deliberating on the charges of rebellion, which is the most important thing in the process of removing the president from office?

I think that's a problem, so it's the most controversial issue anyway, and it's a matter for the Constitutional Court to decide, but I think this is something that the Constitutional Court should sort out on Thursday at least once or twice.

Because there are many parts that have not been accepted for the post-mortem justification, such as the issue of acceptance if it does not proceed and any conclusion is reached, I think the Constitutional Court should sort it out without going longer anyway, whether it is or not. But I don't think rebellion should be excluded.

The most important thing was this part. Then, there will be a standard for the president's rebellion to be evaluated legally in terms of criminal justice, but all the specific evidence of this judgment and behavior will be circumstantial evidence related to the rebellion, and only judge whether it violates the Constitution? I hope the Constitutional Court will come to a conclusion quickly because this is a serious matter.

[Anchor]
Politicians were also watching the Constitutional Court's situation today. Lawmakers attended the National Assembly, but Kwon Sung-dong, floor leader of the People's Power Party, said Moon Hyung-bae, acting head of the Constitutional Court, is a close friend of Lee Jae-myung's, and pointed out that he is qualified to handle the impeachment trial. How did you hear this?

[Park Won-seok]
I think Kwon Sung-dong, the floor leader, should not attempt to undermine the authority of the Constitutional Court and the fairness of the Constitutional Court with such gossip. I don't think that's what the ruling party's floor leader has to say. Then there's also a judge appointed by President Yoon Suk Yeol. Are all of them fundamentally unfair?

By saying things that don't make sense, and doing so without a precise basis, he is creating a very politically poor frame of trying to make his supporters distrust the constitutional trial process. From the Constitutional Court's point of view, however, the ruling party is attempting to undermine the credibility and fairness of the constitutional trial and the president is doing it. If this judgment is made, the most important and good conclusion in this constitutional trial is to end the trial quickly and end the confusion and uncertainty of the constitutional system as it is now.

Overall, it seems that President Yoon, his lawyers, and his supporters are pushing the Constitutional Court to speed up the impeachment trial in a way. This issue does not exclude the act of rebellion itself, whether to include or exclude this charge related to the crime of rebellion.

It's about determining whether it violates the Constitution, and that's because there have been precedents in the presidential impeachment trial in the past. It doesn't make sense for President Yoon to continue to raise such disputes against him, and President Yoon's appearance at the Constitutional Court's judgment earlier than expected was held twice. Then you'll get a rough idea of the atmosphere.

Maybe he felt that the constitutional judges are very active in command and that the pace of the impeachment trial seems to be accelerating. In addition, President Yoon's representatives were unable to adequately answer the issue and were not well defended during the past two defense days. In that sense, the president went out and went to the constitutional trial, and in a way, he gathered his supporters, delayed the pace of the trial, and aimed for various multipurpose effects.

[Anchor]
The Democratic Party of Korea is also criticizing President Yoon's attendance at the Constitutional Court to unite his supporters and not to be investigated by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit.

[Choi Soo-young]
I don't understand that because the investigation of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is inherently unfair and illegal, I said, "But the president doesn't agree and accept the arrest and everything is illegal, but I'm going to go out to prevent a bloody conflict," so the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit is not for any time gain.

I can't respond to this, I don't think there is any reason to do it to an illegal investigation agency that doesn't have the right to investigate rebellion, but I don't think buying time is a frame of excessive attack on the Democratic Party. But this is it for me. From the president's point of view, the most important hearing of the Constitutional Court, that is, criminal trial, has nothing to do with the president's job, but this is a big problem of resigning from his job.

That's why it's most important for the President to persuade and explain to the Constitutional Court whether to judge the value of protecting the Constitution. So what time would it take for the president to go out early and cooperate with such a rapid hearing? And gathering supporters? Does the president rally his supporters just because he speaks here?

Rather, since the dispute here is a process to persuade constitutional judges and draw favorable rulings from them, is a strategy to buy time plus rally presidential supporters? This is hard to agree with.

[Anchor]
I'll tell you a breaking news that just came in. There was news that President Yoon Suk Yeol had moved to the hospital for medical treatment after the impeachment trial. I didn't go to the detention center after the hearing at the Constitutional Court. We have been transferred to the Armed Forces District Hospital, and this is the news.

[Anchor]
The reason for hospital treatment has not been confirmed yet. President Yoon appeared in public today after 49 days. I visited the hospital for medical treatment after the impeachment trial. It was the Military District Hospital. The reason for the treatment has not been confirmed yet.

[Anchor]
There has been no news about whether there is a health problem or whether it is a regular check-up, so I will watch it a little more and tell you again when I receive related news. It has not yet been confirmed whether he will return to the detention center.

[Park Won-seok]
First of all, he said he went to the hospital, so I think he'll probably return after receiving treatment. As you said, we don't know why we stopped by the Armed Forces District Hospital, so we need to wait and see the situation. There are also simple medical facilities in the detention center. Therefore, I thought that it could have been a different reason than that, even though I could have received medical treatment in the detention center.

However, from the fact that you answered and spoke at the Constitutional Court today, there didn't seem to be any health problems at that site. So I think it might have been a regular check-up or something like that.

[Anchor]
Armed Forces Seoul District Hospital is a hospital where presidents usually receive medical treatment, right?

[Choi Soo-young]
It's a place where the president is given exclusive treatment, and then the examination and the overall medical care. I'm in Samcheong-dong, but I think the president is currently suspended, but he's the head of state. That's why there are probably regulations on examinations under the law.

I wonder if I would have done it because I have to do it according to the regulations, and rather than having a special health problem, even if I am currently in a detention center, my status as a head of state must be maintained, so maybe security in accordance with the law is also carried out accordingly. In that respect, I carefully predict that I probably went, but I don't think I'm staying much, so I think I'll probably put weight on the possibility of regular check-ups.

[Anchor]
You must have decided that the Armed Forces District Hospital is better for security than the general hospital, right?

[Choi Soo-young]
[Voiceover] Right. And you have the power to treat the president there.

[Anchor]
Earlier, as we started the news, the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit reported that six prosecutors and investigators from the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit visited the Seoul detention center, but it has not yet been confirmed whether President Yoon has returned to the detention center. I asked you a question before the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit.Ma said it was for the purpose of visiting and for forced recruitment and on-site face-to-face investigation, so what can the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit get today?

[Park Won-seok]
But if the president stops by the hospital and returns to the detention center like that, I think he could pass 9 o'clock. However, according to the inmate human rights rules, it is not possible to recruit or investigate at night after 9 o'clock. It seems difficult to face the president again today, and I think he might have stopped by the hospital not to face the investigators of the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit, but for the exact reason, I think we need to check it afterwards.

It's being repeated right now. The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit actually has no sharp measures. However, he really forced the president to use his physical strength. That doesn't seem easy either. If you look at it that way, I think the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit will have to make a decision soon.

Although the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit has not received any presidential statements, I think it may be one way to transfer the case to the prosecution based on the evidence obtained through these and other surrounding investigations and quickly transfer the case so that the prosecution can investigate and prosecute for the rest of the investigation.

[Anchor]
Isn't there the 4th hearing preparation day after tomorrow? Do you think he'll be present again?

[Choi Soo-young] That's right. I think he's going to attend the hearing after the Lunar New Year's Day, but the president ended it short today.It took less than 2 hours to finish.If the issues continue to be arranged, the Constitutional Court judges will also take some time to do so.

That's why the president did it from the beginning because he has no intention of cooperating with the track of the investigation, and the lawyers said, "We will fight at the Constitutional Court." And since the president said he would be evaluated to see if he exercised his legitimate authority, the hearing will continue, and today was the first hearing, so the president's first appearance is news, topic, and analysis.As time goes on, it is expected that the president's attendance at the Constitutional Court will be accepted as the usual time of the Constitutional Court for the time being.

[Anchor]
Aren't the ruling and opposition parties continuing to go up and down? What do you think of this part?

[Park Won-seok]
Well, the poll's approval rating is influenced by various factors, but it seems to be showing a slightly consistent pattern recently. The approval ratings between the ruling and opposition parties tend to narrow or reverse. In addition, the approval rating for and against impeachment tends to be slightly higher than in the early days of impeachment. First of all, one of the cause-related indicators in recent polls is a kind of oversampling phenomenon in which conservatives respond to polls a lot, and among conservatives, for example, high-level political participants respond a lot. This seems to have something in common.

Secondly, public opinion is already reacting to the early presidential election beyond the early presidential election and impeachment phase. If you look at it a little more deeply, the impact of impeachment on early presidential elections may not be as absolute or overwhelming as you might think. Impeachment is impeachment and early presidential election is early presidential election. I think poll respondents are responding on such a different basis.

Third, the Democratic Party has responded well to the impeachment since the start of the civil war, but some of them were impatient, rushed, and rough, and then turned to a wait-and-see attitude, especially away from middle-class public opinion and taking a wait-and-see attitude.

[Anchor]
If you were to evaluate the recent trend?

[Choi Soo-young]
It's a kind of saying that the people's power approval rating was golden cross. So, I think there is only one reversal between the ruling and opposition parties. The most important thing is the defeat of the Democratic Party. So I say it from the perspective of the power of the people. The spokesperson says that we didn't do anything good.

What that means is that the people's power did not build their own scoring points. So two mechanisms worked. One is that the strongman's frame no longer works for President Yoon Suk Yeol. Who would recognize the president's authority and the president's sternness as the president's coercion in the sight of Yoon Suk Yeol being arrested and executed by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit? Seeing the president being dragged without exception in law enforcement, many of you, not only supporters, but also those in the middle, must have asked various questions about whether this is right.

And how did the agency, which cannot even investigate so roughly, focus only on arrest? In particular, since the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit was an investigative agency created by the Democratic Party with all of its life and death, the concept of the Democratic Party and the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit being replaced seems to be recognized by the public.

What did the Democratic Party do after martial law? Joule impeachment, arbitrary execution of the budget, and threats of impeachment. How did these rough images appear to the eyes of the people that they will also impeach the acting president? The Democratic Party is a quasi-ruling party. And now, President Yoon is the underdog, but rather, the Democratic Party, led by Representative Lee Jae-myung, has become the most overwhelmed group, so to speak, leading politics as well as the National Assembly.

In that respect, it is not such an optical illusion, but the index of feeling felt by the people is directly reflected in public opinion. However, the Democratic Party of Korea may have manipulated public opinion without any sense of crisis. Let me finish by saying that I'm taking the wrong number index completely, as if I should deliberate on the polls. [Anchor] Okay.

I'll cut it short here today. It was joined by Choi Soo-young, a current affairs critic, and Park Won-seok, a former lawmaker of the Justice Party. Thank you.