SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea's disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court Wednesday for a hearing to review a special prosecutor's request for his arrest on charges related to his imposition of martial law in December.
Yoon, who was ousted in April after the Constitutional Court upheld his impeachment, was released from prison in March after the Seoul Central District Court overturned his January arrest, allowing him to stand trial for rebellion without being detained.
Arriving in a black van with his lawyers, Yoon did not respond to questions before entering the court in Seoul.
After a hearing lasting about seven hours, Yoon was taken to a detention center near Seoul to await the court's decision on the warrant, which was expected by late Wednesday or early Thursday.
Yoon's lawyers issued a statement denouncing the arrest request as excessive and unsubstantiated.
His criminal case is being handled by a team of investigators, under special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk, who are pursuing additional charges over Yoon's authoritarian push, including abuse of power, falsifying official documents and obstructing official duties.
Cho's team said they view Yoon as a potential threat to destroy evidence. They questioned him twice before submitting a request for his arrest warrant to the court on Sunday.
The former conservative leader described his martial law imposition on Dec. 3 as a necessary step to quash his ''anti-state'' liberal opponents, accusing them of using their legislative majority to obstruct his agenda. But Yoon's decree lasted only hours, after a quorum of lawmakers broke through a blockade of heavily armed soldiers at the National Assembly and voted to lift the measure.
