South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in a Seoul court on Thursday for his first trial hearing on charges of insurrection in the country’s first criminal prosecution of an incumbent leader.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol could try to impose martial law again or undermine constitutional institutions should he be reinstated, lawyers for parliament argued on Tuesday as his impeachment trial entered its final phase.

Yoon Suk-yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the constitutional court in Seoul, South Korea, Feb. 20, 2025. South Korea's constitutional court on Thursday held the tenth hearing of impeachment trial on President Yoon Suk-yeol. (Xinhua/Yao Qilin)

South Korea's constitutional court will hold the 11th and final hearing of President Yoon Suk-yeol's impeachment trial on Februa

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared at a Seoul court on Thursday for the first hearing of his criminal trial over insurrection charges, during which his lawyers demanded his release from jail.

Traveling around Seoul in a prison transport vehicle, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in two different courts on Thursday, contesting his arrest on rebellion charges in one and fighting an effort to remove him from office in the other.

The 64-year-old former prosecutor has been behind bars since he was arrested last month on charges of insurrection, for which he could be sentenced to life in prison or face the death penalty.

South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday (Feb 20) became the nation's first head of state to face criminal proceedings in the nation's history. The trial, which began on Thursday at Seoul's Central District Court,