President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the sixth hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, Thursday. Joint Press Corps

Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, former leader of the Army Special Warfare Command, reaffirmed, Thursday, that it was President Yoon Suk Yeol himself who ordered him to remove lawmakers from the National Assembly on the night of Dec. 3, after the president made a surprise announcement declaring martial law.

During his testimony at the sixth hearing of the impeachment trial against the president at the Constitutional Court, Kwak confirmed that Yoon had ordered him to drag lawmakers out of the building to prevent them from voting to annul the martial law order.

Previously, former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun had claimed that the order from the president was meant to recall military personnel, not remove lawmakers. The Korean word for "agent" or "commando" is pronounced "yowon," while the word for "lawmaker" is "euiwon," which sound similar.

Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the former chief of the Special Warfare Command, speaks during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap

But Kwak explained that since there were no military personnel inside the National Assembly at the time, the instruction could only be understood as referring to lawmakers.

"At the time, members of the 707th Special Mission Battalion were in a standoff with citizens in front of the National Assembly's front gate, and there were no special operatives inside the Assembly building. When I received the call [from the president], given that there were no operatives inside, I immediately understood the order as referring to lawmakers," Kwak said during the trial session on Thursday.

Kwak was the one who, upon receiving the president's order by phone, instructed Col. Kim Hyun-tae, head of the Army Special Warfare Command's 707th Special Mission Battalion, to enter the National Assembly chamber and "remove the lawmakers." However, Kwak added that he later decided on his own not to carry out the presidential order.

He also stated that although he was following a superior's order, he believed the military deployment was unjustified. He added that the situation that night did not warrant martial law and that, "from a personal standpoint, an unacceptable situation had unfolded."

Col. Kim Hyun-tae, second from right, head of the Army Special Warfare Command's 707th Special Mission Battalion, takes an oath during the sixth hearing of Yoon's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Constitutional Court

Kim also testified for about 100 minutes in court earlier that day.

He stated that when his unit was deployed to the National Assembly and became involved in physical altercations with citizens who had gathered in front to block the soldiers, many of the troops felt shame, with some even apologizing at the scene.

"The majority of the soldiers felt a sense of shame and frustration as they were engaged in physical altercations with citizens, asking themselves, 'What am I doing here?' and 'Why am I doing this to the people?'" Kim said, adding that his soldiers only defended themselves during the confrontation.

He further emphasized that the soldiers had no intention of aiming their weapons at citizens or using force. Instead, 18 of them ended up getting injured.

Kim went on to testify that after receiving orders to block the main Assembly building during martial law, he and his unit were deployed to the National Assembly. He explained that live ammunition, bags and food supplies brought in by helicopter were left in a dark space along the outer wall of the Assembly, while some soldiers stayed nearby to guard them.

He also stated that while he would take responsibility as the commander of the special warfare battalion, he believed that if anyone were to be blamed for the wrongdoing, "it would be the former defense minister."

Park Chun-sup, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Seoul, Nov. 12. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seok

Following Kwak's testimony, Park Chun-sup, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, took the witness stand at around 3:30 p.m. Park, called to testify in court at the request of Yoon's legal team, emphasized that the opposition bloc in December cut this year's government budget and passed it unilaterally without consulting the ruling party. He called this a first in Korean constitutional history.

His statement seemed to side with the argument raised by Yoon's team that the martial law declaration was an unavoidable act of governance, driven by the opposition-led Assembly's substantial cuts to the annual budget for key national projects.

The next hearing of the impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court is slated to take place on Tuesday.