South Korea’s Constitutional Court held its first hearing to decide whether suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol should be removed from office after his shock attempt at martial law last month.
It ended in four minutes due to Yoon’s absence – his lawyers had earlier said he would not show up for his own safety, as there is a warrant for his arrest on separate charges. ‘insurrection.
In December, Yoon was suspended after members of his own party voted with the opposition to impeach him.
However, he will only be officially removed from office if at least six of the eight members of the bench vote to uphold the indictment.
Under South Korean law, the court must set a new date for a hearing before it can proceed without his participation.
The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Yoon’s lawyers said he would appear for a hearing “at an appropriate time,” but challenged the court’s “unilateral decision” on trial dates.
The court on Tuesday rejected the lawyers’ request that one of the eight judges be recused from the proceedings.
Yoon has made no public comments since Parliament voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 and has spoken primarily through his lawyers.
Investigators are also separately preparing for another attempt to arrest Yoon for alleged insurrection, after a previous attempt on Jan. 3 ended after an hours-long standoff with his security team.
Yoon is the first sitting South Korean president to face arrest. A second arrest attempt could take place as early as this week, according to local media.
The suspended leader has made no public comments since Parliament voted to impeach him on December 14 and has spoken mainly through his lawyers.
Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 plunged South Korea into political turmoil. He had attempted to justify the attempt by claiming he was protecting the country from “anti-state” forces, but it soon became clear that the attempt was motivated by his own political unrest.
The weeks that followed were unprecedented weeks in which the opposition-dominated Parliament voted to impeach Yoon and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who succeeded him as interim president.
The crisis has hit the country’s economy, with the won weakening and global credit rating agencies warning of weakening consumer and business confidence.
Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye did not attend their impeachment trials in 2004 and 2017 respectively.
In Park’s case, the first hearing ended after nine minutes of absence.
Roh was reinstated after a two-month review, while Park’s dismissal was upheld.
