President Yoon Suk Yeol (far R, standing) leaves a courtroom at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on Feb. 20, 2025, about five minutes after the court began the 10th hearing of his impeachment trial over his short-lived imposition of martial law in December,

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared at a Seoul court for the first hearing of his criminal trial over insurrection charges, during which his lawyers demanded his release from jail.

Ousted South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol became the country's first sitting head of state to stand trial in a criminal case as hearings opened Thursday on his bid to