A top South Korean military commander who imposed martial law under impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol told a court he had "no chance" to think about the law.
South Korea was plunged into political turmoil when the president, a former prosecutor, declared martial law on December 3, suspending civilian rule and sending soldiers to parliament.
Army Lieutenant General Lee Jin-woo testified at a Constitutional Court trial on Tuesday reviewing parliament's impeachment of Mr Yoon over his decree.
The attempt to impose martial law lasted about six hours before the opposition-led parliament defied troops to vote it down.
The court will decide whether to remove Mr Yoon, 64, from office permanently - triggering a new presidential election within three months - or reinstate him.
Lieutenant General Lee said he believed Mr Yoon to be making a legitimate decision when he declared martial law, but declined to say if the leader gave orders to "drag" lawmakers out of parliament.
"I still believe it was legitimate and when told to go to parliament, I considered it to be an order," he told the court.
"There was no chance to even think about whether it was illegal or unconstitutional, when the commander-in-chief, who represents the people, and whom I knew to be a legal expert as a former top prosecutor, spoke to the country and to the world."
Lieutenant General Lee, who was the commander of the Army Capital Defence Command, is among a number of senior military and police officers who have also been accused of insurrection and abuse of authority.
Questioning of Lieutenant General Lee and other witnesses in court focused on allegations Mr Yoon had given an order to arrest politicians.
Yeo In-hyung, who headed the defence counterintelligence command, said he had opposed martial law but could not help but comply with the commander-in-chief's decision.
He refused to answer questions about whether he had a list of politicians to arrest.
List of politicians 'to arrest'
Mr Yoon, who attended the court hearing, said there was no point in debating whether he gave orders to remove lawmakers gathering to vote to lift the martial law when "nothing actually happened".
Lieutenant General Lee and Mr Yeo declined to answer many of the questions, including whether Mr Yoon had ordered troops to use firearms if necessary and to break into parliament to remove the lawmakers, citing they were defendants in criminal trials.
Hong Jang-won, a former deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, testified he had been ordered to arrest politicians - a claim that contradicts Mr Yoon's denial of such an order.
He said Mr Yoon had ordered him to "catch them all and clean up everything", without specifying who to catch.
"I still don't understand why (they) tried to arrest and investigate these people," he said.
A copy of the indictment against Mr Yoon seen by Reuters said he allegedly asked the safety minister to cut off power and water to several media outlets considered to be critical of the conservative leader.
Separate criminal trial indictment
Prosecutors have separately indicted Mr Yoon on charges of leading an insurrection where he will face a separate criminal trial on those charges.
If convicted, he faces jail time or the death penalty.
He was arrested last month and is being held at a detention centre.
Mr Yoon's lawyers on Tuesday filed a motion to a court to cancel his detention, they told AFP, saying they had made the move "in consideration of illegality of probe" into his alleged crime.
The Seoul Central District Court, which is handling Yoon's case, is expected to review the motion in coming days.
-Reuters/AFP
