Anchor: The Constitutional Court wrapped up its eleventh and final hearing in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment trial in connection with the December 3 martial law incident on Tuesday. In his final statement, which lasted just over an hour, Yoon said he declared martial law to warn the people of the emergency the nation is facing. 
Bae Joo-yon has this report. 

Report: President Yoon Suk Yeol actively defended his decision to declare martial law on December 3 when he delivered the closing statement in his impeachment trial Tuesday. 

In the statement, Yoon insisted that the martial law situation in December was unlike those seen in the past, when the aim was to suppress the people by force.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean/English)]
“By declaring martial law on December 3, I was announcing the emergency the nation was facing and pleading with the true rulers of the country, the people, to confront that situation and to join me in overcoming it.”
 
He said he was at the apex of his power and could have opted to enjoy the benefits of a comfortable life upon his retirement as president if he had been thinking only of himself.
 
The suspended president likened the state of the nation at the time he declared martial law to a frog in a pot of slowly boiling water, unaware of what was happening.

[Sound bite: President Yoon Suk Yeol (Korean/English)]
“Ask yourself which side paralyzed the power of the other. The two-and-a-half hour martial law, which did not block the passage of lawmakers and Assembly personnel and which did not obstruct the parliament’s vote? Or the massive opposition camp that has paralyzed the government with its string of impeachments and legislative budget bashing?”

Addressing the South Korean people, Yoon apologized for the confusion and inconvenience he caused when he issued the decree, saying he did so for the good of the nation and the people but his intentions were misunderstood.

He said that if he is reinstated, he will focus on revising the Constitution and pursuing political reform for the rest of his term, suggesting he is open to shortening the current five-year presidential term. 

He also said he would focus on diplomacy while handing over the authority to address domestic issues to the prime minister. 

The eight-member bench will now hold deliberations almost every day in conference rooms equipped with anti-eavesdropping devices. 

The court is expected to announce its decision as early as mid-March. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.