|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court on Tuesday for hearings that will determine whether he will be officially removed from office. If the Constitutional Court upholds his impeachment, the country must hold a new presidential election within 60 days.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, sparked a political crisis in South Korea when he declared martial law on December 3, suspending civilian rule and deploying soldiers to parliament. His attempt to impose military control lasted only six hours before the opposition-led National Assembly defied the armed forces, voted against his decree, and later impeached him over the move.
In addition to the impeachment process, Yoon was arrested in a pre-dawn raid in mid-January on insurrection charges, making him the first sitting South Korean president to be detained. Despite being in custody, he has attended multiple impeachment hearings at the Constitutional Court.
A convoy of black SUVs transported Yoon to the court on Tuesday for a session scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. (0500 GMT).
At previous hearings, Yoon denied allegations that he instructed top military officials to forcibly remove lawmakers from parliament to prevent them from rejecting his martial law order. However, opposition MPs have refuted his claims.
During Tuesday’s hearing, two former military commanders and a former intelligence official testified as witnesses. Hong Jang-won, a former deputy director of the National Intelligence Service, told lawmakers that he had been ordered to arrest politicians—contradicting Yoon’s claims that no such directive was given.
Yoon, 64, was indicted in January, with prosecutors branding him the “ringleader of the insurrection.” He now faces a separate criminal trial, as insurrection is not covered by presidential immunity. If convicted, he could face either a prison sentence or the death penalty.
