By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-01-17 09:02:53 | Updated at 2025-01-21 06:12:56
3 days ago
SEOUL - Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Jan 17 again refused investigators’ efforts to question him over his failed martial law bid, as the deadline on his detention neared.
Mr Yoon threw the nation into chaos on Dec 3 when he attempted to impose martial law, citing the need to combat threats from “anti-state elements”.
But his bid lasted just six hours, as the soldiers he directed to storm parliament failed to stop lawmakers from voting to reject martial law.
In the following weeks, Mr Yoon was impeached by parliament and resisted arrest while holed up at his guarded residence, before becoming South Korea’s first sitting president to be detained.
The arrest warrant executed in Jan 15’s dawn raid on Mr Yoon’s residence allowed investigators to hold him for just 48 hours.
But they are expected to seek a new warrant on Jan 17 that will likely extend his detention by 20 days, allowing prosecutors time to formalise an indictment against him.
The Corruption Investigation Office is investigating him on possible charges of insurrection, which if found guilty could see him jailed for life or executed.
The new warrant, if filed on Jan 17, would keep Mr Yoon in detention until at least a court hearing and ruling for its approval over the weekend. If the court rejects it after the hearing, he would be released.
The CIO had called him for questioning at 10 am local time on Jan 17, Yonhap news agency reported, but his lawyer Yoon Kab-keun told AFP he had refused to appear for the second day in a row.
CIO officials did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.
Another lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, told reporters on Jan 17 Mr Yoon had already explained his position to investigators and had no reason to answer their questions.
“The president will not appear at the CIO today. He has sufficiently expressed his basic stance to the investigators on the first day,” he said.
He was questioned for hours on Jan 15 but exercised his right to silence before refusing to appear for interrogation the next day.
His supporters gathered outside the court on Jan 17 where investigators were expected to file for the new warrant, linking arms in an apparent attempt to block them, the Yonhap news agency reported.
He had evaded arrest for weeks by remaining in his residential compound, protected by loyal members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS).
Hundreds of CIO investigators and police surrounded his compound on Jan 15 in a second, and ultimately successful, effort to arrest him.
When he was detained, he said he had agreed to leave his compound to avoid “bloodshed”, but that he did not accept the legality of the investigation.
A lawmaker from his ruling People Power Party described the moments before the arrest, with Mr Yoon apparently unfazed, making sandwiches for his legal team and consoling loyal MPs.
“There was someone who cried and bowed deeply. He patted our backs to offer comfort,” close ally Yoon Sang-hyun claimed in a YouTube interview.
When prosecutors arrived with the arrest warrant, one of Mr Yoon’s final requests was to visit his pet dog.
“As they showed it, the president said, ‘I get it. I know what this means, so let’s go now,” lawmaker Mr Yoon said.
“He said he’d like to see Tori (his dog), went up to the second floor, saw where he lived, came out, and left.”
The opposition Democratic Party celebrated Mr Yoon’s arrest, with a top official calling it “the first step” to restoring constitutional and legal order.
Although Mr Yoon won presidential elections in 2022, the Democratic Party won parliamentary elections in April last year by a landslide.
In a parallel probe, the Constitutional Court is deciding whether to uphold his impeachment.
If that happens, he would lose the presidency and fresh elections would have to be held within 60 days.
He did not attend the first two hearings this week.
The trial is continuing in Mr Yoon’s absence and proceedings could last for months. AFP
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