South Korea’s Constitutional Court opened the impeachment trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday over his failed martial law bid but quickly adjourned the first hearing after the suspended leader didn’t show up.
Yoon’s December 3 power grab plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades after he directed soldiers to storm parliament in an unsuccessful attempt to stop lawmakers from voting down his suspension of civilian rule.
He was impeached soon after and suspended from duty but has gone to ground in his residence since, refusing summonses from investigators probing him on insurrection charges and using his presidential security team to resist arrest.
The trial’s first of five hearings began at 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) but lasted just minutes with Yoon not in attendance, the court’s spokesperson told AFP.
Although his failure to attend — which his team has blamed on purported safety concerns — forced a procedural adjournment, the hearings will continue without Yoon, with the next set for Thursday.
Additional hearings are already scheduled for January 21, January 23, and February 4.
The court’s eight judges will decide mainly two issues: whether Yoon’s martial law declaration was unconstitutional and whether it was illegal — either of which could prove grounds to uphold his impeachment.
Six of the eight judges must vote in favour of Yoon’s impeachment for him to be removed from office.
The National Assembly’s legal team told reporters in front of the court before the trial began Tuesday that there were “overwhelming reasons for the immediate dismissal” of Yoon.
The court has up to 180 days from December 14, when it received the case, to make its ruling.
Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye did not appear for their impeachment trials in 2004 and 2016-2017, respectively.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued the court must utilise the full 180 days — specifically to examine what “led to the declaration of martial law.”
The attempt to place South Korea under military rule for the first time in more than four decades lasted just six hours.
“This impeachment case focuses solely on the martial law situation,” lawyer Kim Nam-ju told AFP.
