South Korea's Yoon attends criminal trial

During first formal hearing, former president denies insurrection charges

Tense exchanges inside the Seoul Central District Court featured the first hearing of the criminal trial of former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol on Monday amid insurrection charges following his short-lived martial law declaration in December.

The prosecution presented a summary of its charges during the trial, while Yoon, a former top prosecutor, refuted them one by one and stressed that the martial law only lasted for a few hours, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"It goes against legal principles to build an insurrection case based on an indictment that looks like a printout of an incident that lasted only a few hours and was lifted immediately in a nonviolent manner upon accepting the National Assembly's demand to lift it," said Yoon, who has become the 5th former South Korean president to stand criminal trial.