South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on insurrection charges on Sunday after he briefly declared martial law last month, prosecutors told local media. Why it matters: Yoon is the first sitting president to both be arrested and indicted on criminal charges.

The charges are unprecedented for a South Korean president, and if convicted, Yoon Suk Yeol could face years in prison for his shock martial-law decree, which sought to ban political and parliamentary activity and control the media.

South Korea’s impeached president has denied that he ordered the military to drag lawmakers out of the National Assembly to prevent them from voting to reject his martial law decree last month, as he appeared for the first time before the Constitutional Court that will determine his fate.