Fmr. Army Commander rejects most questions at President Yoon's impeachment trial

We start today at the Constitutional Court where the fifth hearing of the impeachment trial against President Yoon Suk Yeol began this afternoon.

For more I have our top office correspondent Oh Soo-young standing by live.

Soo-young it's good to have you on.

So I understand today's hearing included an interesting line-up of key witnesses?

Yes, the fifth hearing of President Yoon's trial began at 2 PM today with the President in attendance, and three testimonies set for 90 minutes each.

Now, the three witnesses today are key figures who were involved in executing the December 3rd Martial Law, and are considered unfavorable witnesses for Yoon given what they have told state investigators.

The questioning began with Lee Jin-woo, former commander of the Capital Defense Command.

Lee has reportedly claimed he received three phone calls from Yoon, and countless calls from former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun, to deploy martial law forces, storm the National Assembly by force, and drag out legislators to stop them from overturning martial law.

However, when he showed up at the Constitutional Court today, he refused to confirm or answer most questions posed by the National Assembly about whether he had received calls or orders from President Yoon.

While Lee said he could not respond to certain questions relevant to his ongoing criminal case, he did selectively answer some.

He in fact denied he'd been given any orders from President Yoon to arrest lawmakers.

When asked whether the former Defense Minister instructed him to deploy forces to the parliament to prevent lawmakers from entering or to block them from lifting martial law, he said he had not.

While emphasizing he hadn't known martial law would be declared, he said he did not consider it unlawful or unconstitutional but accepted it as a "strategic guideline" by the nation's leader, and followed orders by the defense minister prior to the declaration to standby at the base.

Right.

Soo-young I hear a second witness is on the stand as we speak?

That's right. Yeo In-hyung, former chief of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, is being questioned.

Yeo is said to have been ordered by former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to arrest certain politicians.

We'll have to see if he is more responsive to the questions.

Next, is Hong Jang-won, former first deputy director of the National Intelligence Service.

He has said he was informed of the arrests to be made and was told to "seize them all this time" for a "total clean-up."

President Yoon has denied the major allegations so the hearing today could feature conflicting testimonies, but the Court banned him from asking them questions himself.

Soo-young I realize it may be tough to tell but when can we expect an actual verdict?

Well, for now, there are three more hearings scheduled until next Thursday, but it's unclear whether the Constitutional Court will be able to wrap up the case by then, or choose to hear from more witnesses, which would inevitably prolong the trial.

So based on the Court's current schedule, a verdict could be out by the end of the month, or early March, given that it took 10 days to deliver a ruling on Park Geun-hye's trial, and 14 days in the case of Roh Moo-hyun.

But the conflicting testimonies may require more witnesses for cross-checking and verification of whether Yoon directly issued martial law orders, whether the decrees were unconstitutional, and whether he had pre-planned the martial law.

Yoon's team has applied for at least 31 witnesses, and the Court is still reviewing the candidates.

Also, as Yoon's representatives continue to challenge the Court's proceedings, experts say the trial could also be lengthened.

However, most believe the ruling will be made before two justices retire from the bench on April 18th, to avoid further procedural delays and complications.

All right Soo-young thank you for that coverage.

That was our Oh Soo-young with the latest on the president's impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court.