Former Army Special Warfare Command Chief Kwak Jong-geun testified on the 21st that during the state of emergency on Dec. 3, he instructed his subordinates, 'The president said to break down the door and drag out the National Assembly members, and if necessary, cut off the electricity.' President Yoon Suk-yeol has claimed that he did not give orders to drag out National Assembly members during the impeachment trial.
Lieutenant General Lee Sang-hyun, the commander of the 1st Airborne Special Forces Brigade, attended the fourth hearing of the special committee on the investigation of the National Assembly insurrection allegations held in the National Assembly that day and stated this. According to the testimony, former Commander Kwak instructed this brigade commander via a secure phone call between 12:50 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Dec. 4, 2024.
The brigade commander said, 'Soldiers are expected to respond mechanically to orders from their superiors,' and noted, 'I asked, "Are you saying the president gave such an order?"' but he said 'Yes' in a slightly hesitant voice before hanging up the phone.' An Hyu-young, the operations officer of the 1st Airborne Division (Colonel), who was in the same space at the time, also testified that he heard the brigade commander's remarks during the currency with former Commander Kwak.
The brigade commander stated, 'Although I conveyed it as an order from the president to my subordinates, I felt somewhat perplexed,' and explained, 'Suddenly, I thought this could be a political issue, so I told the personnel to come out of the building.' He added, 'After returning to the unit, I instructed not to modify the situation report under any circumstances and went back to my room to record what was in my notebook and submitted it to the prosecution.'
In the morning that day, there was also testimony that former Capital Defense Command Chief Lee Jin-woo requested 'National Assembly guidance' multiple times for troop deployment during the state of emergency on Dec. 3. Yang Jae-eung, head of the Ministry of National Defense's National Assembly Cooperation Office, said, 'I received calls from the Capital Defense Command eight times,' adding that his requests were continually for troop guidance. He continued, 'I repeatedly responded that it was difficult, and I judged that there was a problem and that it was not a situation to cooperate.'
Additionally, there were testimonies that former Commander Kwak was witnessed receiving orders via phone from President Yoon during the state of emergency. Kim Young-kwon, the head of the counter-intelligence unit who was with former Commander Kwak in the command and control center, said, 'The commander was a bit nervous when he received a call, and I asked the staff member next to him, who mentioned that he heard the term "Code One."' Code One is a term commonly used in the military to refer to the president.