S Korea has begun an impeachment trial against the ousted president

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has held its first hearing to decide whether suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol should be removed from office after last month’s attempted martial law.

The hearing ended after four minutes due to Yoon’s absence; his lawyers had previously said he would not go for his own safety because there is a warrant out for his arrest on charges of sedition.

In December, Yoon was suspended after his party members voted with the opposition to impeach him.

However, he will be formally removed from office if at least six of the eight members of the Constitutional Court vote to uphold the impeachment.

Under South Korean law, the court must set a new trial date before proceeding without his participation.

The next session is on Thursday.

Yoon’s lawyers have stated that he will appear for trial “at the appropriate time”, but have challenged the court’s “unilateral decision” during the trial days.

The court on Tuesday rejected a request by lawyers to recuse one of the eight judges from the proceedings.

Yoon has not commented publicly since parliament voted to impeach him on December 14 and has been speaking mainly through his lawyers.

Investigators are also preparing for another attempt to arrest Yoon for alleged sedition, after an earlier attempt on Jan. 3 ended after an hour-long standoff with his security team.

Yoon is the first South Korean president to face arrest. A second arrest attempt could happen as early as this week, according to local media.

The suspended leader has not commented publicly since parliament voted to impeach him on December 14 and has been speaking mainly through his lawyers.

Yoon’s declaration of short-lived martial law on December 3 has plunged South Korea into political turmoil. He tried to justify the attempt by claiming that he was protecting the country from “anti-state” forces, but it soon became clear that he was motivated by his own political problems.

What followed were an unprecedented few weeks in which the opposition-dominated parliament voted to impeach Yoon and then Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who replaced him as acting president.

The crisis has hit the country’s economy, weakening earnings and global credit rating agencies warning of weakening consumer and business sentiment.

Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye did not attend impeachment trials in 2004 and 2017, respectively.

In Park’s case, the first case ended after nine minutes in his absence.

Roh was reinstated after a two-month review, while Park’s challenge was upheld.