Live: Will Prime Minister, police chief testify against Pres. Yoon at Thursday's impeachment trial?

Despite Yoon's criminal trial proceedings beginning this morning, the Constitutional Court rejected a request by the President's lawyers to postpone today's impeachment hearing, which looks to be the last, or next-to-last hearing in the trial.

For more, let's connect to our Oh Soo-young.

Q1. While there are concerns the overlapping schedule weakens Yoon's right to legal self-defense, the Constitutional Court has decided to push ahead.

That's right. The tenth impeachment hearing will start at 3 PM, an hour later than initially planned, with three witness examinations beginning with Prime Minister Han Duck-soo.

Han previously said that the President didn't hold a proper cabinet meeting before declaring martial law on December 3rd.

This has been a major ground for impeachment as the Constitution requires a Cabinet meeting and related procedures to implement martial law.

However, Han's lawyer on Wednesday appeared to clarify his position to say that due to the urgent circumstances, the Cabinet did not follow normal procedures but whether it was legitimate or not is for the court to decide.

Former intelligence official Hong Jang-won who was summoned as a key witness for the National Assembly's side will return to the Court for further questioning by Yoon's legal team.

Hong claims there was a list of 14 to 16 figures President Yoon wanted to arrest under martial law.

Hong believes he was ordered to aid the Counterintelligence Command in tracking down and detaining the individuals.

National Police Agency chief Cho Ji-ho will be forced to attend, after two absences due to illness.

He's told prosecutors that Yoon ordered him to arrest lawmakers on the night martial law was declared,.. and heard from the Counterintelligence Commander 15 names of politicians and judicial figures to detain.

However, we need to wait and see what he says today.

Previous witnesses who testified unfavorably for Yoon have ended up altering their words in Court, leading to conflicting statements.

Q2. For now, Thursday is the last hearing date scheduled for the trial. What comes next?

Experts say the Court is likely to add one more session to wrap up the arguments made by each side and hear the President's final statement.

A ruling will likely be made in the first half of March, as in past impeachment trials, the verdict normally took about two weeks to reach.

Now, President Yoon's lawyers have said they might apply for more witnesses after a day of review, but it's unclear whether the Court would approve, given how they've rejected most of the over thirty candidates, and emphasized a swift trial process.

Now as the Court continues to push through with the proceedings and shoots down requests by Yoon's team, his lawyers have said they might embark on a 'big decision' which they hinted could involve their collective resignation as a show of protest.

I see. Tensions remain high as the impeachment draws to an end.

Thanks for your coverage today.