South Korea's ousted premier said on Thursday that he had opposed suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law, testifying for the first time at his former boss's impeachment trial about the events of a night that threw the country into turmoil.

Ousted South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol's bid to impose martial law was aimed at thwarting a "legislative dictatorship" by the opposition-controlledparliament, his lawyer said Thursday, as Yoon became the country's first sitting president to stand trial in a criminal case.

Ousted South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol became the country's first sitting head of state to stand trial in a criminal case as hearings opened Thursday on his bid to