South Korea's Constitutional Court is set to hold the first hearing of the trial on Tuesday to decide whether to uphold the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol over his martial law declaration. But Yoon's lawyer says the president will be absent, citing concerns about his safety.

The court opened the trial last month and finished preparatory hearing proceedings before the first oral arguments scheduled for Tuesday.

The lawyer said a joint investigation team is attempting to illegally execute a warrant to detain the president. He added that Yoon will attend the trial as long as issues regarding his safety are resolved.

The investigation team is seeking to detain the impeached Yoon on suspicion of orchestrating an insurrection by declaring martial law last month. He has repeatedly defied previous summonses.

The lawyer reportedly asked the investigators to defer the execution of the warrant so that the president can concentrate on the impeachment trial.