South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol will get another hearing next week before judges decide on whether to formally remove him from office over his martial law decree, the country’s Constitutional Court said Thursday.
The former prosecutor has remained defiant throughout weeks of hearings, blaming a “malicious” opposition for his December bid to suspend civilian rule.
The attempt only lasted six hours as the opposition-led parliament voted the declaration down and later impeached him over the move.
Yoon was detained last month on insurrection charges, becoming the first sitting South Korean head of state to be arrested.
Thursday’s hearing was widely expected — but not officially confirmed — to be Yoon’s last before the judges go behind closed doors to deliberate upholding his impeachment.
But as proceedings wrapped up, the court said it would add another hearing next Tuesday.
Prosecutors had argued the “time was ripe” for the case to be decided while Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kap-keun told the hearing that the impeachment trial “continues to be conducted in an unlawful and unfair manner”.
Yoon’s legal team also warned they would “make a serious decision” if that persists, though they did not specify what action would be taken.