Court testimony emerged stating that instructions to deliver a message justifying the December 3 emergency martial law to the United States could only be fulfilled through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The 38th Criminal Settlement Division of the Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judges Jung Sooyoung, Choi Young-gak, and Chang Sungjin) summoned and questioned Lee Choong-myun, former Secretary for Foreign Affairs at the National Security Office, during the first trial hearing on the 6th regarding the charges against former Deputy Director Kim for engaging in important missions of insurrection and abuse of power.

Former Secretary Lee is the individual who received instructions from former President Yoon Suk Yeol, via former Deputy Director Kim, to transmit a message justifying the martial law to allied nations such as the United States immediately after the proclamation of emergency martial law.

In response to a question from the 2nd Comprehensive Special Prosecutor Team, represented by Kwon Chang-young, asking whether "the defendant's (former Deputy Director Kim) instructions naturally should have been implemented through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," Lee answered, "That is correct."

He explained, "The content of the message received at the time itself stated that 'diplomacy and foreign policy will remain unchanged,' and isn't the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the department in charge of diplomacy?"

When asked if there was any way to execute the instructions without going through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, former Secretary Lee stated, "The alternative would have been for us (the staff of the Foreign Policy Secretary's Office) to call the opposing country's embassy directly, but at that time near midnight, we neither had the means to do so nor would it have been desirable."

The special prosecutor team pointed out that while former Deputy Director Kim acknowledged giving the instruction at the time, he did not specify how it should be implemented and stated during the investigation that he assumed the message would be delivered to the U.S. Embassy through administrative officers in the Foreign Policy Secretary's Office.

In response, former Secretary Lee protested, "Having administrative officers in the Foreign Policy Secretary's Office deliver the message at that hour is realistically impossible," adding, "I remember confirming with former Deputy Director Kim that the message would be delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs."

Former Secretary Lee explained that even before the proclamation of emergency martial law, former Deputy Director Kim frequently issued instructions to convey the president's opinions or positions on specific matters to foreign countries, which were then transmitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through himself or the Director of the National Security Office.

This differs from the stance of former Deputy Director Kim's side, which argues that abuse of power charges do not apply because he did not directly issue instructions to Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials based on directives received from the president.

The attorney for former Deputy Director Kim argued on this day, "The defendant merely instructed former Secretary Lee and did not directly instruct Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials," adding, "Because he had no official authority over Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the charge of abuse of power does not apply."

(Photo: Yonhap News)