President Yoon Suk Yeol’s legal team has repeated its claim that suspicions of election fraud were one of the key reasons Yoon declared martial law on December 3.

Bae Jin-han, a lawyer on Yoon’s defense team, made the claim Thursday during a second hearing in Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. 

Bae argued that suspicions about fraudulent elections led Yoon to treat the situation as a national emergency and declare martial law, adding that Yoon had received numerous tip-offs and reports.

The National Assembly’s impeachment investigation committee, acting as prosecutors in the trial, criticized the claim as a “dangerous defense,” saying the subject of the trial was Yoon’s martial law decree and his act of violating the Constitution and that election fraud is not related to the case.

Yoon’s legal team reiterated the claim outside the court Thursday after the hearing, saying Yoon declared martial law to check the country’s election system. 

The team stressed that it is the president’s responsibility to establish a transparent, reliable election system with local and presidential elections scheduled.

Yoon’s legal team said suspicions of election fraud grew stronger after the general elections in April 2020, when the percentage of early voters doubled since 2016.