Ousted South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol's bid to impose martial law was aimed at thwarting a "legislative dictatorship" by the opposition-controlled parliament, his lawyer said Thursday, as Yoon became the country's first sitting president to stand trial in a criminal case.
The 64-year-old former prosecutor has been behind bars since he was arrested last month on charges of insurrection, for which he could be sentenced to life in prison — or face the death penalty.
Criminal proceedings at Seoul's Central District Court on Thursday morning lasted just over an hour. Yoon, clad in a navy suit with a red tie, sat beside his lawyers, facing a team of prosecutors on the opposite side of the room who prepared 70,000 pages of evidence to make their case. Yoon remained silent during the hour-long session.
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