Yoon attends hearing of impeachment trial President Yoon Suk Yeol looks pensive during the 10th hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 20, 2025, over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December.

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 contested his arrest on rebellion charges in one court and pleaded to preserve his presidency in the other, both cases related to his brief imposition of martial law.