President Yoon Suk Yeol’s defense team says allegations of election rigging must be examined in Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court. 

Cho Dae-hyun, who is on the defense team, made the statement at the fourth hearing in Yoon’s impeachment trial on Thursday, saying those allegations are the main reason his client declared martial law on December 3. 

Cho said addressing such suspicions and securing a fair and transparent election system are the ways to establish the constitutional order of national sovereignty, adding that Yoon believed eliminating the possibility of illegal elections was a shortcut to creating such order. 

The lawyer then dismissed claims that Yoon sought to ban parliament’s activities with the martial law decree and sought to set up an emergency legislative body. 

He also reiterated that the president never ordered the arrest of lawmakers and that martial law forces never arrested or attempted to arrest anyone.