A special counsel team investigating former President Yoon Suk Yeol's December 3 declaration of martial law requested additional hearings after Yoon failed to appear ten consecutive times, citing health reasons.

During the 19th hearing at which Yoon was not present at the Seoul Central District Court on Friday, assistant counselor Park Eok-su asked that additional hearings take place while former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's trial is suspended due to the defense's request that the current judges be recused.

Yoon's legal team said it was open to discussing the proposal.

Earlier, presiding Judge Ji Gwi-yeon announced plans to merge Yoon's trial with those of Kim and Police Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho, both of whom allegedly played key roles in the martial law imposition, and wrap up the hearings by the end of this year.

The Seoul central court earlier this week said it assigned an additional judge to its unit handling trials related to Yoon's martial law action to oversee general cases to allow the three judges currently assigned to special counsel probe cases to focus on swift and fair trial proceedings.