Seoul, Jan 12 A former lawmaker of South Korea's main opposition People Power Party (PPP), Ihn Yohan, criticised former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration on Monday, saying he thought Yoon had a compelling reason to impose it.
Ihn expressed "deep" disappointment over the crisis in a video posted on his YouTube channel to congratulate Representative Lee So-hee, who succeeded him as a proportional representative after his resignation last month, Yonhap News Agency reported.
"When martial law was declared a year ago, I thought there was a national crisis that the president could not fully disclose to the people," he said. "I thought there must there have been a compelling and urgent reason for the commander-in-chief to declare it."
"But that was not the case," he added.
Ihn said he knew how "horrific" a wrongful declaration of martial law can be, as he recalled being labelled as an instigator after interpreting for foreign correspondents during the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city of Gwangju.
"What has been revealed over the past year, since the martial law, is deeply disappointing and humiliating," he said.
He also expressed hope that Lee would become a successful lawmaker, describing himself as a "failed" one.
Ihn, who had been closely aligned with Yoon and won a proportional seat in the April 10 general elections last year, resigned in mid-December, saying South Korea had overcome the "unfortunate events" that had unfolded since Yoon's failed martial law bid.
A great-grandson of American missionary Eugene Bell, Ihn was born in 1959 in Suncheon, 290 kilometres south of Seoul, in South Jeolla Province, and worked as a medical doctor before becoming a lawmaker.
Meanwhile, a Seoul court on Monday held the first hearing of former President Yoon Suk Yeol's trial on charges of benefiting the enemy over claims of dispatching military drones to Pyongyang in 2024.
The hearing took place at the Seoul Central District Court behind closed doors, with Yoon, former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and Yeo In-hyung, former head of the Defence Counterintelligence Command, in attendance.
Yoon and the two others have been indicted on charges of aiding the enemy in connection with the alleged drone dispatch to North Korea's capital in October 2024.
Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team believes the alleged dispatch was aimed at inciting the North's retaliation, which could then be used as a pretext for Yoon's martial law declaration two months later.
The team charged Yoon with "benefiting the enemy in general," based on its judgment that the drone dispatch led to the leak of military secrets to the North when they allegedly crashed near Pyongyang.
The court's bench said it would decide every session whether to proceed with the trial behind closed doors, citing state secrets involved in the case.
The ousted former president is standing trial on multiple charges in connection with his failed martial law bid, including for leading an insurrection.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor