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

President Yoon Suk Yeol is taking part in the 10th hearing of his impeachment trial as we speak which may be the final hearing ahead of a verdict by the eight-member Constitutional Court to either remove the president from or reinstate him back into the top office.

Our correspondent Oh Soo-young joins me now from the Constitutional Court.

Soo-young welcome.

I hear today's session involves three key witnesses.

Do tell us more.

That's right. The tenth impeachment hearing began 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.

He reiterated this stance on Thursday.

He said that the Defence Minister had not consulted him regarding martial law before recommending it to the President, and said there were some procedural abnormalities compared to a proper Cabinet meeting.

But he stopped short of declaring whether or not it was a legitimate Cabinet meeting, saying that wasn't his call to make but should be determined through investigation and judicial procedures.

The Prime Minister however described how the opposition-led legislatures' unilateral budget cuts and extreme politics has been threatening the country's future industries and democracy.

Next up is former intelligence official Hong Jang-won who was summoned as a key witness for the National Assembly's side.

He returned 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.

Now, Yoon was seated in the courtroom at the start of the hearing but vacated his seat his lawyer said the President felt that him listening to the Prime Minister's responses could be inappropriate for the nation's dignity, and decided to leave.

Right then Soo-young is today's hearing the last before the Constitutional Court's ruling on the president's political fate?

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 be reached.

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 have 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.

All right then Soo-young thank you for the latest on the president's impeachment trial.