Live: President Yoon objects to impeachment trial schedule as first trial begins

For the third time in Korean history, the country's leader faces an impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court.

President Yoon Suk Yeol's trial begins today with the first hearing scheduled for 2 PM.

We have our correspondent Oh Soo-young standing by at the Constitutional Court.

Q1. The trial already faces a rocky start, with Yoon's legal team disputing much of the proceedings and Yoon not expected to show up, right?

That's right. Today, the Court's bench of eight justices will convene the first trial hearing on the President's impeachment, which the opposition-led National Assembly voted on last month.

But the President himself will not be showing up, as his lawyers revealed before filing an objection to the hearing Monday afternoon.

Now, his absence was expected by the Court, which already fixed four additional hearing dates.

The court is obliged to reschedule if one party misses the first session, but a second absence on the 16th two days from now would enable the panel to continue the trial without him.

A court official mentioned on Monday that without Yoon present at the first session, it is likely to end quickly.

Former President Park Geun-hye's first trial hearing lasted around nine minutes due to her absence.

2. So we're continuing to see this tug-of-war over the timeline of the impeachment trial right?

Yes, the President's legal team has criticised the Constitutional Court’s emphasis on “expedited proceedings” and insists that the 180-day trial period stipulated by law must be fully observed.

Yoon's team on Monday also filed an objection to how the Constitutional Court scheduled five hearing dates without consulting the representatives, and further objected to Justice Chung Kye-sun presiding over the trial, and filed to recuse, or disqualify her.

Yoon's lawyers say Chung who was appointed this month, has links to the opposition Democratic Party, and her husband is associated with former chief justice Kim Yisu who is on the National Assembly's panel of lawyers trying to impeach Yoon.

Under the Constitutional Court Act, a party may file a motion to recuse a justice under circumstances that make it difficult to expect a fair trial.

The Civil Procedure Act stipulates that trial procedures must be halted until the recusal motion is resolved.

However, the court can dismiss the motion if it deems it was filed solely to delay proceedings.

To discuss the recusal request, the Court's acting chief justice has decided to convene a meeting as we speak, beginning at 10am.

3. Now that's even before their official arguments begin. Not much progress on the guidelines for the trial either.

That's right. Yoon and the Assembly failed to narrow down their differences in two pre-trial hearings where they should have set out the main grounds for impeachment and drawn up lists of witnesses and evidence they wish to present to make their case.

Various sticking points remain unresolved.

First, Yoon's team says the National Assembly's panel removing charges of insurrection as a main argument for impeachment makes no sense as the Assembly's motion to remove him from power cited insurrection as a major reason.

They said National Assembly must vote on impeachment again without insurrection charges. If not, it should retract its withdrawal statement.

The Constitutional Court is expected to rule on this matter.

Second, there's the issue of whether the proclamation of martial law constitutes an “act of state,” under Yoon's executive powers as President, and therefore is not subject to judicial review.

The National Assembly counters this, calling the martial law decree illegal.

So the court must determine whether or not the decree was an "act of state."

Also, Yoon's team filed an objection to the Court’s decision to obtain records from ongoing trials and criminal investigations over the martial law, arguing that it violates the Constitutional Court Act.

On top of the procedural complaints raised by the team observers note that these challenges, if accepted by the court, could delay the trial’s progression.

We'll have to see how this first session goes.

Thanks for keeping us updated Sooyoung.