Conflicting statements continue as Constitutional Court schedules extra hearing for President Yoon's impeachment trial

The Constitutional Court has decided to hold an extra hearing next week for President Yoon's impeachment trial to summarize the arguments.

If the hearings do come to an end next week, the ruling could come as early as March.

Oh Soo-young reports.

The battle of narratives continued at President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial, as the eighth and initially last session was extended with another hearing scheduled for next Tuesday.

Cho Sung-hyun, the Head of the Capital Defense Command's 1st Security Group, said he had been ordered by his Commander Lee Jin-woo to pull out legislators from the parliamentary building.

Lee Jin-woo who was questioned at the Court last week had refused to answer whether he'd been given such an order by Yoon, due to his ongoing criminal trial, while the President has denied issuing such instructions.

Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun has claimed the order was to pull out "agents" or "yo-won" , not "legislators" or "ui-won" , while Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jong-geun said the President said "persons" or "in-won" .

More conflicting statements emerged during the session.

National Intelligence Service chief Cho Tae-yong cast doubt over the claims made by his deputy last week that the President ordered the arrest of politicians on the night of December 3rd.

Deputy Director Hong Jang-won had said he had heard fourteen to sixteen public figures named as targets for arrest by Counterintelligence Commander Yeo In-hyung which he wrote down on a notepad outside the Director Cho's residence.

He claimed his secretary helped decipher it later, thus there are two notes in total.

However, Cho says, based on CCTV footage, Hong was not outside, but in his office at the time he said he wrote the memo.

The Director also said there appeared to be four versions of the note, appearing to suggest there's been some fabrication on Hong's part.

Cho questioned Hong's political neutrality, adding he heard last year in a parliamentary committee meeting that Hong had made seven separate requests regarding personnel appointments to a former opposition party lawmaker who previously worked at the NIS under the last administration.

On Thursday, former Seoul Metropolitan Police Commissioner Kim Bong-sik also testified.

Kim said that he had deployed police to the National Assembly to ensure public safety,.. and denied he'd been given orders to make arrests.

As witness statements continue to clash, the President's side today also reapplied for Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to be called as a witness, whom the Court rejected on Tuesday, and asked to re-summon Hong Jang-won.

They also asked for National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho to be made to stand as a witness, as he failed to show up twice due to health reasons.

Justices will review the new witness applications on Friday.

So far, the court has accepted a total of 15 witnesses in the impeachment trial—seven requested by the National Assembly and eight by President Yoon’s side.

This compares to the 36 approved during former President Park Geun-hye's impeachment trial.

"For now, the Court has scheduled a ninth hearing for next Tuesday at 2 PM, where each legal team will have two hours to summarize their arguments.

If the hearings conclude next week, observers say the ruling could be made around early March.

Park Geun-hye's impeachment was upheld after 11 days, while former President Roh Moo-hyun's was dismissed after 14 days.

Oh Soo-young, Arirang News."