By The Straits Times | Created at 2025-01-16 04:14:12 | Updated at 2025-01-20 02:48:56
3 days ago
SEOUL – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has asked a Seoul court to review his detention as he faced renewed questioning by investigators on Jan 16 over his failed martial law declaration.
Mr Yoon’s legal team filed a request to the Seoul Central District Court to review the legitimacy of the president’s arrest, Mr Seok Dong-hyeon, one of his representatives, said on Jan 16.
This comes a day after Mr Yoon’s dramatic arrest that made him the first sitting president in the country to be taken into custody. The impeached leader, who faces insurrection charges over his martial law decree, was questioned for nearly 11 hours on Jan 15 but chose to remain silent.
The Seoul court plans to question him on Jan 16 afternoon to make a decision, Yonhap News reported. It’s unclear if Mr Yoon will attend this, as he has refused to appear before investigators after spending his first night in detention.
Under the law, an arrested criminal suspect can ask a court to review the legality of their arrest. The court has 48 hours to review the case, and if it finds the request valid, Mr Yoon will be released from detention immediately.
“I hope that the judges of the Seoul Central District Court will properly determine the illegality of this arrest by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in accordance with the law,” Mr Seok said in a Facebook post on Jan 16.
The court reviewing Mr Yoon’s latest request is different from the one that issued the unprecedented arrest warrant. Mr Yoon’s representatives have said the arrest warrant is invalid and illegal as the investigating agency – the CIO – lacks the legal authority to investigate insurrection charges. They also said the office arbitrarily selected a court in a different district to increase its chances of securing the warrant.
The CIO plans to send documents to the court today as requested by the court, Yonhap reported, citing an unidentified official from the agency.
Separately, Mr Yoon is awaiting a verdict from the Constitutional Court, which is deliberating whether to uphold parliament’s decision to impeach him and remove him from office permanently. The next hearing is scheduled for Jan 16 afternoon.
A former star prosecutor, Mr Yoon has been drawing on his own experience to block and delay efforts to investigate him. He was one of the prosecutors who led the probe into former President Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office in 2017 and later imprisoned at the detention facility where Yoon is currently held.
Mr Yoon shocked the nation and the world by briefly imposing martial law in early December, plunging South Korea into its worst constitutional crisis in decades. He was suspended from his duties after the National Assembly passed a motion to impeach him on Dec 14. BLOOMBERG
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