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Impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol arrives at the offices of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, just outside of Seoul, after being arrested by investigators on Jan. 15, 2025, on suspicions of committing insurrection. (Lee Jong-keun/Hankyoreh)

Appearing before a judge for pre-detention examination on Saturday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol claimed he couldn’t recall if it was he or his former defense minister who wrote a memo about “setting up an emergency legislative body” that was reportedly received by then-Deputy Prime Minister for the Economy Choi Sang-mok at the time of Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration, it was reported Sunday.

Judge Cha Eun-gyeong, the senior judge who was presiding over Yoon’s pre-detention questioning at the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday, reportedly asked him “what exactly the ‘emergency legislative body’ means” and whether he had “the intention of setting up an emergency legislative body after the martial law declaration.”

Investigators have found that at the Cabinet meeting that took place immediately prior to the declaration of martial law, Yoon slipped a note to Choi that had a list of actions to be taken following the start of military rule, one of them being to “put together a budget for an emergency legislative body.” Prosecutors view this note as evidence that Yoon planned to set up a new interim legislative body to take the place of the National Assembly, and thus key proof that Yoon intended to neutralize the authority of the National Assembly, a constitutional body, amounting to insurrection. 

A police officer stands outside the Seoul Western District Court on Jan. 19, 2025, which was stormed by supporters earlier that morning following the issuance of a detention warrant for Yoon. (Jung Yong-il/Hankyoreh)

In response to the question about the note, Yoon reportedly said, “My memory is fuzzy on whether it was Kim Yong-hyun or I who wrote it. I didn’t have any intention to really set up an emergency legislative body.” 

When the judge asked what exactly was meant by the term “emergency legislative body,” Yoon reportedly sidestepped the question, only saying, “I don’t recall exactly.”

By Jeong Hye-min, staff reporter

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