section_path: Constitutional Court trial/Proceedings/February
section_name: February
paragraph_text: February
  
  On 1 February, Yoon's legal team formally requested the recusal of acting chief justice Moon Hyung-bae, Justice Lee Mi-seon, and Justice Chung Kyesun from the impeachment case, citing concerns about impartiality. The team alluded to Moon's past social media interactions with DPK leader Lee Jae-myung, Justice Lee's brother, who serves as a vice chairman of a committee at the Lawyers for a Democratic Society and had supported Yoon's resignation, as well as Justice Chung's husband, who had signed a public declaration supporting Yoon's impeachment.
  
  Appearing again for the 4 February hearing, Yoon admitted to ordering soldiers to the NEC to check its systems operations, citing allegations of election fraud. He again denied accusations of him ordering the military to forcibly remove lawmakers from the National Assembly, saying that it could not have been done due to the presence of thousands of civilians outside the assembly compound. Lee Jin-woo testified that he had not received orders from Yoon or Kim Yong-hyun to obstruct the lifting of martial law by lawmakers but said he believed that the military deployment to the legislature was legitimate under the Martial Law Act. Yeo In-hyung also attended the hearing as a witness but refused to testify, citing the risk of self-incrimination in a parallel criminal investigation against him.
  
  On 8 February, police launched an investigation after reports of a planned mob attack, scheduled for 13 February, on the Constitutional Court trial emerged online. In response, more than 2,700 police personnel and 140 buses were deployed near the court on 11 February. Barricades and panels were set up to restrict access, and the court justices received armed protection.
  
  At the 11 February hearing, Yoon blamed opposition parties for his decision to declare martial law. Yoon claimed that the opposition parties had failed to give him due respect as president and described them as "malicious". Yoon cited his addresses to the National Assembly, during which he said opposition lawmakers refused to attend or shake hands and turned away from him. Former interior minister Lee Sang-min also testified before the court and denied that Yoon had ordered him to cut off electricity and water supplies to left-leaning media outlets critical of Yoon, specifically the Hankyoreh, the Kyunghyang Shinmun, MBC and JTBC, as well as the opinion polling agency Flower Research during martial law.
  
  At 13 February hearing, which Yoon attended, former NIS first deputy director Hong Jang-won, who previously testified to compiling a list of politicians as instructed by Yoon to "clean them all up" during martial law, revealed that he had been contacted through text messages by first lady Kim Keon-hee on the night of martial law, but could not recall the exact details. His statement was disputed by NIS director Cho Tae-yong, who cited multiple discrepancies and accused Hong of links with opposition politicians. Col. Cho Seong-hyun, commander of the 1st Security Group at the Capital Defense Command and the only witness directly requested by the court, also testified that his commanding officer Lee Jin-woo ordered him to support special forces soldiers at the National Assembly as they dragged lawmakers out of the building. The Constitutional Court also set an additional impeachment hearing to be held on 18 February. On 14 February, it also set an additional hearing scheduled on 20 February and ordered Han Duck-soo to testify as a witness.
  
  Yoon arrived at the Constitutional Court for the 18 February hearing but left shortly before it began after it was determined following a meeting with his lawyers that his attendance was unnecessary. The hearing proceeded with the prosecution and defense summarizing their arguments. The court also rejected an appeal by Yoon's lawyers to postpone the 20 February hearing due to a scheduling conflict with the first preliminary hearing of Yoon's separate criminal trial on insurrection charges. However, the court agreed to push back the opening of the hearing by an hour. The court also issued a subpoena for Cho Ji-ho, who refused to testify as a witness for the third time, citing health issues.
  
  Yoon arrived at the Constitutional Court for the 20 February hearing but left shortly after his lawyers determined that it would be inappropriate for him to watch Han Duck-soo testify, reentering once Han had finished. Han said that members of Yoon's cabinet were concerned about his plans to declare martial law and tried to dissuade him from doing so, while denying claims from Kim Yong-hyun that some members were in support of the plan. He also said that the martial law declaration did not follow constitutional and legal procedures and questioned whether Yoon's cabinet meeting on 3 December was a proper one. Cho Ji-ho, who finally appeared at the trial, refused to answer most questions presented at him, citing a related criminal trial. Later, the court set the final impeachment hearing on 25 February.
  
  At the 25 February hearing, Yoon said he was "sorry and thankful to the people". He also pledged to push for political reforms and a constitutional revision to change the current presidential system if his impeachment is overturned, adding that the fulfillment of such pledges might lead to him leaving office before the end of his term. At the same time, he continued to deny the accusations of insurrection against him and accusations that of him interfering with the National Assembly's affairs. He also continued to defend martial law, saying that it was intended to appeal to the public about the "imperial opposition party" and accused the latter of exploiting experiences from previous martial law declarations to "incite public fear". Lee Kwang-beom, one of the prosecution lawyers, compared Yoon to previous South Korean presidents including Park Chung Hee and Chun Doo-hwan, adding that Yoon's declaration of martial law was "dictatorship". The trial ended with a total of 11 hearings held over 73 days and 16 people testifying as witnesses.