Seoul: National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik appeared before special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team Thursday to be questioned as a witness about former President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration. "As the speaker of the National Assembly, I'll do my utmost to establish the legal and political justice related to the martial law," Woo told reporters before entering the special counsel office in southern Seoul at 9:40 a.m.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Woo is expected to be asked whether the conservative People Power Party (PPP) systematically obstructed the National Assembly's vote during the process of lifting the martial law. Following Yoon's martial law imposition on the night of Dec. 3 last year, the 300-member National Assembly passed a resolution in the wee hours of Dec. 4 demanding that Yoon lift the martial law. All 190 lawmakers present voted in favor. Under the Constitution, martial law must be lifted when a parliamentary majority demands it.
Woo presided over the special parliamentary session Dec. 4 and managed the National Assembly for about 155 minutes until the resolution was passed. The special counsel team suspects the PPP leadership may have changed the meeting places of party lawmakers several times to obstruct them from participating in the Assembly vote at that time under an instruction from Yoon.