Live from Seoul Central District Court, where Pres. Yoon's criminal trial sets to take place

Now moving on to the domestic front,

With President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial ongoing, he is also expected to participate in a criminal trial on charges of insurrection.

Meanwhile, Yoon's team is making preparations to defend the president.

For more we have our Park Kun-woo standing by live, near the Seoul Central District Court.

Kun-woo, how are the trials proceeding?

Good morning Min-jung.

As mentioned, I'm now standing at the Central District Court in southern Seoul where Yoon's criminal trial on charges of insurrection, following his indictment by the prosecution, is set to take place, possibly in March.

The panel of judges for the case is expected to be announced as early as Friday.

Then, after pretrial preparations in February, the trial will begin.

Usually, such preparations for a criminal trial take two to three months, but given that this is an unprecedented trial of a sitting president, who has been arrested, there are expectations that it will proceed faster than usual.

Accordingly, Yoon's defense is facing two different trials -the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial and the criminal trial.

This could result in the president undergoing at least three hearings a week, as those for the impeachment will resume their twice-weekly schedule from next week, which will last until February 13th.

Yoon previously expressed his intention to attend all hearings.

2. Now, how has Yoon been preparing for these trials?

President Yoon has continued meeting with his defense team even during the Lunar New Year holidays that ended Thursday, to discuss trial preparations, though details remain undisclosed.

That came after the team submitted over a hundred pieces of evidence to the Constitutional Court on Jan. 26th, which some pundits believe may be a strategy to delay the impeachment trial.

One possible scenario for Yoon and his defense team is to request bail to participate in the trials without detention.

The court could deny the bail request due to concerns about evidence tampering, but could also accept the request with conditions such as prohibiting contact with related parties.

Another possibility is requesting the suspension of the impeachment trial.

That's based on a Constitutional Court Act that allows the suspension of such a trial when a criminal trial is also ongoing over the same matter.

3. And I hear regular visitation to the Detention Center where President Yoon is at, is allowed starting today.

Can you tell us more?

Yes, as you mentioned general visitation to the Seoul Detention Center where President Yoon is being held, will be available starting today.

These visits are expected to take place once a day with only a few people allowed.

High-ranking officials from the Presidential Office are expected to visit Yoon this morning.

Members of the People Power Party are also planning to visit Yoon, while first lady Kim Keon-hee is reportedly not planning to visit at the moment.

That's all I have for you now.

Back to you, Min-jung.

All right Kun-woo thank you for that coverage.

That was our Park Kun-woo reporting live, from the Seoul Central District Court.