South Korea's Constitutional Court held its first hearing to decide whether suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol should be removed from office after his surprise attempt to implement martial law last month.
The hearing ended within four minutes due to Yoon's absence, as his lawyers had previously said that he would not attend for his safety, as there was an arrest warrant for him on separate charges related to the rebellion.
In December, Yoon was suspended after his party members voted with the opposition to impeach him.
However, he will not be formally removed from office unless at least six of the eight-member council vote to uphold impeachment.
Under South Korean law, the court must set a new date for the hearing before it can proceed without his participation.
The next session is scheduled for Thursday.
Yoon's lawyers indicated that he would attend a hearing at the “appropriate time,” but they challenged the court's “unilateral decision” on trial dates.
On Tuesday, the court rejected the lawyers' request to exclude one of the eight judges from the proceedings.
Yoon has not commented publicly since Parliament voted to impeach him on December 14, speaking primarily through his lawyer.
Investigators are also separately preparing for another attempt to arrest Yoon on charges of alleged insurrection, after a previous attempt on January 3 ended after an hours-long standoff with his security team.
Yoon is the first South Korean president to face arrest. Local media reported that a second attempt to detain him could take place as early as this week.
The suspended leader has not commented publicly since Parliament voted to impeach him on December 14, speaking primarily through his lawyer.
Yoon's short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3 threw South Korea into political turmoil. He had tried to justify his attempt by saying that he was protecting the country from “anti-state” forces, but it soon became clear that the reason for this attempt was his political problems.
What followed was an unprecedented few weeks that saw the opposition-dominated parliament vote to impeach Yoon and Prime Minister Han Dak-soo, who succeeded him as acting president.
The crisis has hit the country's economy, with the won weakening and global credit rating agencies warning of weak consumer and business sentiment.
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 session ended after nine minutes of her absence.
Roh was reinstated after a two-month review, while Park's impeachment was upheld.
