A Seoul court is deliberating on whether to place former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae in pretrial detention on charges of aiding former President Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law.

During the Seoul Central District Court's nearly five-hour hearing on Thursday, prosecutors argued that soon after Yoon declared martial law on December 3, Park had instructed his ministry's senior officials to consider dispatching prosecutors to the joint investigation headquarters formed under military command.

The team has also accused Park of ordering an inspection of detention facilities' available capacity.

Park, who left the court at 2:50 p.m. without responding to waiting reporters, will stay at the Seoul Detention Center until the court's ruling, which may come as early as Thursday evening.

The court had previously ruled against Park's detention, saying the prosecution had not sufficiently demonstrated that the defendant was aware of the illegality of his actions.

Since then, investigators have obtained an additional document accusing the Democratic Party of abusing its power in an apparent attempt to justify Yoon's actions, which they say Park received on Telegram the day after the martial law declaration.

The team also verified that the then-head of the Korea Correctional Service ordered an inspection of available detention capacity in the capital region and received a briefing on the matter.