Court rejected Yoon's request to delay Thursday's impeachment hearing, starts full-fledged trial

Moving forward.

The second hearing of the impeachment case against President Yoon Suk Yeol took place as scheduled despite a request for postponement placed by the president's defense team amid his arrest the day prior.

For details I have Oh Soo-young standing by live.

Soo-young let's start with the prosecution's allegations and the defense team's arguments.

There were strong clashes over whether President Yoon's martial law order on December third could be justified, with each side accusing the other of abusing power and undermining the nation's Constitutional order.

The National Assembly's panel presented five grounds for impeachment, saying that Yoon's decree threatened the country's Constitution and democracy.

They argued there were no conditions that justified a martial law decree, which can be triggered by the President under the Constitution,.. only in times of national crises such as war or akin to war.

The panel also said Yoon violated the procedure of declaring the decree, by not having properly gone through Cabinet approval.

Panel members further claimed Yoon tried to paralyze the functions of parliament by aiming to prevent a motion to lift martial law, and tried to block political activities, gatherings, and press freedom.

The Assembly's side further said Yoon tried to undermine the independence of the National Election Commission, and tried to detain judicial figures.

Meanwhile, Yoon's lawyers questioned the impeachment process, and emphasized the context in which the President felt forced to declare the fateful decree.

The lawyers insisted that the President was initiating peaceful martial law against the opposition-led parliament's series of attacks and impeachment motions against the incumbent government.

They also argued that martial law should not be subject to judicial review, calling it an act of governance that can be exercised by the president.

Yoon's side also raised suspicions about election fraud, and claimed it was the President's obligation to try to protect the Constitutional order from the National Election Commission which refused investigations.

The team reiterated their position that the National Assembly's move to remove debate over insurrection from the trial, undermines its legitimacy, as the Assembly cited insurrection as a major reason for impeachment in their resolution.

And for very clear reasons this second hearing also proceeded in the absence of the president right Soo-young ?

That's right. The Court rejected Yoon's request to postpone the second trial hearing given his 48-hour detainment that began on Wednesday.

Court press officer Cheon Jaehyun said the full bench of justices decided the reason Yoon presented did not justify a rescheduling.

She said since the trial has already begun, any objections to its commencement can be considered implicitly dismissed, adding that the scheduling is at the Court's discretion.

Regarding the President's request to challenge the legality of a second warrant to detain him for questioning, the Constitutional Court stated that it would continue to deliberate on the matter.

The next trial hearing for President Yoon's impeachment will be held next Tuesday at 2 PM.

All right Soo-young thank you for that coverage.

That was our Oh Soo-young reporting live from the Constitutional Court.