Former President Yoon Suk Yeol issued a statement from prison on the anniversary of his Dec. 3 martial law declaration, arguing that the decision had been a constitutional duty aimed at protecting citizens' freedom and the liberal democratic order.

In a roughly 890-character letter titled “Message to the People on December 3,” released through his lawyer on Wednesday, Yoon claimed the nation had been facing “a regime-overthrow attempt” and said martial law was intended to counter what he described as the Democratic Party’s “parliamentary dictatorship,” including multiple impeachment attempts and deep cuts to national security and economic budgets.

He alleged that more than one-thousand-200 illegal hires and widespread vulnerabilities in vote-counting systems had threatened the integrity of the election commission, adding that he'd declared the state of emergency to “restore the foundations of constitutional liberal democracy.”

Yoon expressed regret that he had been unable to prevent what he called a “storm of insurrection accusations” against military officials, saying those who'd devoted their lives to the state were now suffering because “all responsibility lies with me as commander-in-chief.”

He attacked the current administration’s judicial reform agenda, accusing it of attempting to dismantle prosecutorial independence through measures such as expanding the Supreme Court, threatening to impeach the chief justice and creating a tribunal for martial law-related cases.

Yoon urged the public to unite and show a "red card" to the government, which he called an unjust and corrupt dictatorship.