South Korea's constitutional court held its first hearing to decide whether ousted President Yoon Suk-yeol should be removed from office after his shock attempt to impose martial law last month.
The hearing ended within four minutes due to Yoon's absence – his lawyers had earlier said he would not attend for his own safety because there was a warrant out for his arrest on separate sedition charges.
In December, Yun was ousted after members of his own party voted with the opposition to impeach him.
However, he will only be formally removed from office if at least six of the eight-member panel of the Constitutional Court vote to support the impeachment.
Under South Korean law, the court must set a new hearing date before they can proceed without his presence.
The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday.
Yoon's lawyers said he would appear at a hearing at an “appropriate time” but disputed the court's “unilateral decision” on trial dates.
On Tuesday, the court rejected the lawyers' request that one of the eight judges be removed from the case.
Yun has not commented publicly since parliament voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 and has spoken mostly through his lawyers.
Investigators are also preparing separately for another attempt to arrest Yun for alleged sedition, after an earlier attempt on Jan. 3 ended after an hours-long standoff with his security team.
Yoon is the first sitting president of South Korea to face arrest. The second attempt to detain him could happen as early as this week, according to local media.
The ousted leader has not commented publicly since parliament voted to impeach him on December 14 and has spoken mostly through his lawyers.
Yun's short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3 threw South Korea into political turmoil. He tried to justify the attempt by saying he was defending the country from “anti-state” forces, but it soon became clear that he was motivated by his own political problems.
An unprecedented few weeks followed in which the opposition-dominated parliament voted to impeach Yun and then-Prime Minister Han Dak-su, who briefly succeeded him as acting president.
The crisis has hit the country's economy, with profit weakening 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, respectively. and 2017
In Park's case, the first hearing ended after nine minutes in her absence.
Roh was reinstated after a two-month review while Park's impeachment was upheld.