A lawyer on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s defense team has claimed that the No. 1 Decree that the Martial Law Command issued shortly after Yoon declared martial law on December 3 was merely for formality and was never meant to be executed. 

Cha Ki-hwan made the claim on Tuesday during the third hearing in Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court, saying the decree cannot be enforced because it could be a violation of higher laws.

Cha said the No. 1 Decree centers on banning illegal activities by the National Assembly and not on dissolving parliament or prohibiting its activities. 

He added that his client had lifted the martial law after the National Assembly smoothly passed a motion to lift it. 

Meanwhile, the top court adopted as witnesses for Yoon, former interior minister Lee Sang-min and senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Park Chun-sup. 

Ahead of the third hearing, Yoon’s defense team had requested the court to adopt at least 24 more witnesses, including Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, finance minister Choi Sang-mok, Board of Audit and Inspection chair Choe Jae-hae and voting officers and clerks of the National Election Commission(NEC). 

Yoon’s lawyers apparently sought to add such witnesses to support his claims that he declared martial law due to the opposition camp’s disruption in operating state affairs and to argue that there is evidence of election rigging in the country, made possible by the NEC’s “sham” election system.