SOUTH KOREAN prosecutors indicted impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol today on charges of rebellion over his short-lived declaration of martial law.

Mr Yoon could face life imprisonment or the death penalty after becoming the first South Korean president to be indicted while in office.

The Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him.

Meanwhile, Mr Yoon remains in detention and will be escorted to court for a trial expected to last about six months.

Prosecutors argue Mr Yoon’s martial law declaration was a deliberate act of rebellion that sought to undermine the constitution.

Mr Yoon’s defence team criticised the indictment as politically motivated, claiming the declaration was a legitimate response to the obstruction of his agenda by the liberal-controlled National Assembly.

Mr Yoon had described the assembly as “a den of criminals” and accused it of harbouring “anti-state forces.”

The December 3 martial law decree, South Korea’s first in over four decades, lasted for just six hours.