South Korea’s Yoon acknowledges troop dispatch to election commission during martial law decree

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday he ordered sending troops to offices of the National Election Commission (NEC) during his martial law declaration as he has suspected election fraud allegations, Yonhap reports.

Yoon made the claim while attending the fifth formal hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, where he again denied allegations that he ordered military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament in an attempt to prevent them from blocking its imposition.

"I ordered then Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun to dispatch troops to NEC offices," Yoon said. "It was not meant to conduct any criminal investigations, but to check systems and how they are operated."

Yoon added that he issued the order to Kim days before declaring martial law while discussing the matter with Kim.

"When I dealt with electoral fraud cases as a prosecutor, I saw many incomprehensible, fake ballots. And I've long thought of election fraud problems," Yoon said.

Hundreds of troops were sent to election offices in Seoul, Gwacheon and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province, during the Dec. 3 martial law decree.

Yoon has said that he ordered Kim to check the voting system of the election watchdog, raising questions over the NEC's credibility following alleged cyberattacks by North Korean hackers.

The NEC has dismissed election fraud allegations as groundless and called the troop deployment unlawful.

The National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon over his shocking, albeit short-lived, imposition of martial law. Yoon was indicted over charges of leading an insurrection and has been under arrest.

Yoon is also alleged to have sent military troops to the National Assembly to keep lawmakers from voting down the martial law declaration and to have planned to arrest key political figures.

"Looking into the case, noting actually happened. But there is talk of me making an instruction of the sort. I feel like we are chasing the moon's shadow on a lake," Yoon said. "You would know the true nature of this case if you saw it based on common sense."

Yoon claimed that dragging lawmakers from parliament could not have been possible as there are thousands of civilians in the National Assembly compound and troops were withdrawn after martial law was lifted.

Earlier it was reported that the criminal trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to his Dec. 3 martial law imposition was set to begin later this month.