South Korean court re-issues arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon

SEOUL – A South Korean court has re-issued a warrant to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, the country’s corruption investigation agency said on Jan 7.

A joint probe team led by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) requested an extension of the initial warrant after it expired on Jan 6, according to a text message from the team on Jan 7.

Investigators seeking to question him on allegations of insurrection have

struggled to execute a warrant for his arrest,

after facing resistance from the President’s security team.

The CIO is seeking to take Mr Yoon into custody and question him for his botched martial law decree, which led to his impeachment.

Mr Yoon has repeatedly ignored the CIO’s order to appear before the agency and remained holed up in his residence surrounded by hundreds of guards preventing his arrest.

The head of the investigation unit, blocked by a human chain of hundreds of presidential security service and military guards outside Mr Yoon’s residence last week, said earlier on Jan 7 that they remained determined to bring him in.

The opposition Democratic Party has called for the dissolution of the security service protecting Mr Yoon.

Mr Yoon’s lawyers filed an injunction request to a Seoul court to nullify the arrest warrant, but the court struck that down on Jan 5, a court official said on Jan 7.

The head of Mr Yoon’s presidential security service also said on Jan 5 that he would not allow investigators to arrest the suspended President.

If the authorities detain Mr Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, he would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.

But they would have only 48 hours to either request another arrest warrant to keep him in detention or be forced to release him.

While officials have been unable to get to Mr Yoon, the joint investigation team has gone after top military officials behind the martial law plan.

The prosecution’s martial law special investigation unit on Jan 6 indicted Defence Intelligence Commander Moon Sang-ho on charges of playing an integral role in an insurrection and abuse of power.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has slated Jan 14 for the start of Mr Yoon’s impeachment trial – which, if he does not attend, would continue in his absence.

A prosecutors’ report on his former defence minister seen by AFP on Jan 5 showed that Mr Yoon ignored the objections of key Cabinet ministers before his failed martial law bid, evidence the court may take into account.

It said the country’s then prime minister, foreign minister and finance minister all expressed reservations about the potential economic and diplomatic fallout in a Cabinet meeting on the night of the decision.

But Mr Yoon’s lawyers have pledged to wage their own legal fight.

One of his lawyers said on Jan 5 that they would file another complaint against the CIO’s head, who tried to arrest Mr Yoon.

The President’s legal team intends to “hold those who committed illegal acts strictly accountable under the law”, lawyer Yoon Kab-keun said in a statement.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss Mr Yoon as president or restore his powers.

Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye never appeared for their impeachment trials. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG, AFP