South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol refused to appear for fresh questioning by investigators Thursday, a day after his dramatic arrest over an ill-fated martial law declaration.

South Korea looks set for a dramatic political showdown this week as impeachment proceedings kick off against suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol, who remains holed up in his fortified residence evading arrest for a separate criminal investigation.

South Korea's Constitutional Court adjourned the opening session of the impeachment trial of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol within minutes on Tuesday, after the embattled leader did not attend court.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court convened its first hearing on Tuesday to determine whether suspended President, Yoon Suk Yeol should be permanently removed from office following his controversial declaration of martial law last month.

Yoon’s detention, after a tense standoff outside the presidential residence, marks the latest chapter in a bewildering series of events since his martial law decree.

Yoon Suk Yeol has become South Korea's first sitting president to be arrested after investigators scaled barricades and cut through barbed wire to take him into custody. Yoon, 64, is being investigated on charges of insurrection for a failed martial law order on 3 December that plunged the country into turmoil.

Yoon Suk Yeol becomes first sitting South Korean president to be arrested, six weeks after he declared martial law

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attended on Tuesday a Constitutional Court hearing of his impeachment trial where he denied ordering military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament during his short-lived bid to impose martial law.

South Korean investigators asked prosecutors to indict the country’s detained President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law last month, as it accused him of rebellion, abuse of power and obstruction of parliament.