Cho Hee-kyoung

Lawmaker, agent or persons? This was one of the hottest debates arising out of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, which is now drawing to a close. The three words are homonyms in the Korean language (ui-won, yo-won and in-won, respectively). The question arose out of the testimonies by Kim Yong-hyun, the former defense minister, and Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, the former chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, who gave conflicting evidence as to what Yoon ordered regarding the lawmakers gathered inside the National Assembly building on that fateful night of Dec. 3, when Yoon declared martial law.

It has been nearly two months since the motion to impeach Yoon was passed by the National Assembly after his martial law declaration in December. The impeachment trial began in earnest at the Constitutional Court in the latter half of January with the examination of witnesses called by both sides. Breaking with tradition from the previous two presidential impeachment hearings, Yoon chose to appear in court in person, dressed in a neatly pressed suit, with freshly coiffed hair and even a hint of makeup for the cameras. At the outset, he even questioned some of the witnesses himself.

The character of an impeachment trial is different from an ordinary criminal trial. Article 65 of the Constitution provides that the National Assembly may pass a motion to impeach the president and other high-level public officials if they “have violated the Constitution or........

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