Live: President Yoon attends impeachment hearing under arrest to defend martial law

We start at the Constitutional Court where President Yoon Suk Yeol's third hearing took place this afternoon in his attendance for the first time.

For more on the impeachment trial I have Oh Soo-young standing by live on site.

Soo-young, let's begin with this unprecedented event of the president partaking in his own impeachment trial to defend himself.

Yes, for the first time in South Korean history, the nation's sitting president arrived at the Constitutional Court to defend himself against impeachment.

Yoon arrived at around 1:20 PM, to attend Tuesday's hearing the third session in his trial.

Avoiding the public eye, he entered the Court through the underground car park escorted by the Presidential Security Service.

There were increased police patrols and metal barricades surrounding the court to keep his supporters at a distance.

Each of the eight justices on the bench also have individual police protection, after violence by protestors at the Seoul Western District Court over the weekend.

As you said, it's unprecedented on many levels, as he's also the first President to be under arrest while facing an impeachment trial.

It's a truly fascinating situation where the prosecutor-turned-president made his case to justices as a pre-trial inmate.

So what did the president say?

The President gave a short introductory remark, saying he'd spent his entire career in public service with a deep conviction of the country's liberal democratic order,.. and said he hoped the Court would look into his case carefully.

The Acting Chief Justice asked him two questions: whether he'd given the finance minister a note to prepare a budget for an emergency legislative body, and whether he'd ordered military commanders to drag out lawmakers from the National Assembly.

Yoon said he did not.

During the hearing, the President's lawyers outlined various points that they claim substantiate Yoon's martial law decree which they plan to back with witnesses and evidence.

First, they cited the opposition-led National Assembly's abuse of impeachment power against high-ranking officials,.. indiscriminate budget cuts for key military, nuclear energy, and welfare programs essential to the country's future, public livelihoods, and safety.

They also underscored what was described as "hybrid warfare" as a new type of national crisis that poses security, economic, and political threats.

Examples include the leak of classified military intelligence and critical technologies to China.

The legal team presented images and accounts of suspected electoral fraud in the parliamentary race last year, with Yoon further emphasizing the need to investigate the National Election Commission.

The Assembly's panel continued to stress that Yoon's process of declaring martial law was illegal.

It cited media reports, investigation records, and CCTV footage from the National Assembly and the National Election Commission to back its arguments that Yoon had planned and caused disruption to the country's constitutional institutions.

They further argued the President's claims of election fraud are dangerous to democracy and should not be raised in the trial, and later criticized Yoon's attendance as they walked out of the hearing.

And will the president be partaking in future hearings as well?

His lawyers have said in principle, he would show up at all future hearings if possible.

Today's attendance was actually quite unexpected, as his lawyers said the President would make a court appearance at an "appropriate time" when the main arguments have been organized to a certain extent.

He was also not expected to attend every hearing.

So it appears, following his arrest, the President felt compelled to speak out perhaps by frustration at his detention.

In fact, his move appears to assert his position that he will not answer to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials who attained his arrest warrant and are now detaining him for questioning.

Presumably, their cooperation is needed for Yoon to attend hearings that fall into his 20 days of detention, but as unprecedented as the situation is, there is no clear procedure.

There are hearings scheduled every Tuesday and Thursday until February 13th, excluding next week as it's the Lunar New Year holiday.

All right Soo-young, thank you for the latest regarding the president's attendance of the third hearing on his impeachment case at the Constitutional Court on this Tuesday.