Seoul court orders release of President Yoon, points out need to ensure clarity in investigation

SEOUL – A Seoul court has ordered the release of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol from custody, a decision that one analyst says will likely be advantageous to his ruling People Power Party (PPP).

Mr Yoon has been detained for nearly two months since his arrest on Jan 15 on charges of insurrection for his ill-fated martial law decree on Dec 3, 2024. Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges from which a South Korean president does not have immunity.

On March 7, the Seoul Central District Court made the ruling after Mr Yoon’s lawyers challenged his arrest on the grounds that the lead agency involved had no legal basis to investigate him on insurrection charges.

The agency, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, had argued that it can investigate insurrection as a crime linked to abuse of power, which falls under it.

The court said it was “reasonable to cancel the arrest” as there was a need “to ensure clarity in the procedure and eliminate any doubts about the legality of the investigation process”.

Mr Yoon’s legal team hailed the court decision as “a confirmation that the rule of law is still alive”.

The team urged the prosecution to immediately agree to Mr Yoon’s release, even though it technically has seven days to appeal against the court decision, during which he has to remain in custody.

At press time, Mr Yoon had yet to be released. 

PPP interim leader Kwon Young-se told reporters that his party welcomed the court’s decision, but said the President “should never have been arrested in the first place”.

In challenging Mr Yoon’s arrest, his lawyers also took issue with the prosecution for waiting too long to indict Mr Yoon.

Under South Korea’s Criminal Procedure Act, if a prosecutor detains a suspect and does not file a public indictment within 10 days, the suspect has to be released.

Mr Yoon’s lawyers argued that since he was arrested on Jan 15, his detention should have expired on Jan 25. But the prosecution indicted him only on Jan 26, thus prolonging his detention illegally. 

Seoul National University law professor Lee Jae-min told The Straits Times that the court’s ruling bears “significant consequences” on the criminal proceedings on insurrection charges against Mr Yoon. 

He said: “With the judge taking issue with the arrest and the indictment procedures, this could mean that the entire proceedings will be affected by such a perception as the case goes forward.

“It won’t just be about substantiating the charge any more, but also about validating the procedural issues of the whole investigation and arrest.”

Kyonggi University political science and law lecturer Hahm Sung-deuk believes the case will likely have to go back to square one, this time with the rightful authority – the police – taking the lead in investigations. 

“It will be very difficult for the prosecutors to continue to pursue the criminal charges now that the court has highlighted the investigative illegalities,” he said. While this may delay proceedings, it is not likely to impact the result, he added.

Professor Hahm does not think that the court ruling will affect the separate impeachment ruling that the Constitutional Court is widely expected to announce around March 14.

But the latest court decision will likely lend some wind to the PPP’s sails, he added.

He said the ruling is likely to give the conservative PPP an edge in the event of a presidential election, which must be called within 60 days should the Constitutional Court uphold the National Assembly’s decision to impeach Mr Yoon.

Prof Hahm noted that the conservatives had argued that the law had been wrongly applied to Mr Yoon, and “this ruling has just proven them right, supporting their argument”.

“This would be a blow for Lee Jae-myung,” he said, referring to the leader of the opposition Democratic Party (DP) who lost narrowly to Mr Yoon in the 2022 presidential election.

A Gallup Korea poll released on March 7 showed that 52 per cent of respondents prefer the next president to be from the opposition bloc, while 37 per cent preferred a candidate from the ruling PPP.

The DP also has a slim lead over the PPP in approval ratings at 40 per cent, compared with the PPP’s 36 per cent.

DP leader Lee, who is widely tipped to win the next presidential election, called the prosecution’s mistake a “beginner’s arithmetic mistake” which does not negate the insurrection charges against Mr Yoon.

He said: “Insurrection is still ongoing, and overcoming the insurrection is currently our most significant task.”