South Korea’s President Yoon to attend court hearing on extending detention By Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) – Impeached South Korean President Yun Suk-yeol plans to attend a court hearing on Saturday to fight investigators’ request to extend his detention on sedition charges, his lawyer said.

On Wednesday, Yun became the country’s first sitting president to be arrested as part of a criminal investigation into his brief Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.

Investigators on Friday sought an arrest warrant to extend Yoon’s detention for up to 20 days.He has refused to talk to investigators and has been held in a Seoul detention center since his arrest.

Police broke up a crowd of Yoon supporters blocking the gate of Seoul’s Western District Court, where the hearing will begin at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT).A decision is expected on Saturday or Sunday.

“He decided to participate … to restore his honor by directly explaining the legality of martial law and that the rebellion was not approved,” Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kab-kyung said in a statement.

The coup, the alleged crime against Yoon by the Office of High-ranking Corruption Investigation, is one of the few from which South Korea’s sitting president is not immune.

Arrest hearings usually last about two hours in South Korea, but can last eight to 10 hours if arguments get heated.