Cho Eun-suk, head of the special prosecutor team investigating Yoon Suk-yeol, on 25/6 requested the Seoul Central District Court to approve an arrest warrant for the former president. The allegation is that Yoon ignored police summons after the special investigation began on 18/6.
According to the prosecution team, Yoon's failure to comply with the summons, as well as his refusal to comply with another order on 12/6, "clearly reflects that he has no intention of responding to any future summons". After taking over the case from the police on 23/6, the prosecution team requested an arrest warrant to "maintain the continuity of the investigation".
The court is expected to decide on Yoon's arrest warrant as early as today. "We will announce immediately if the court approves", prosecutor Park Ji-young from the prosecution team said.
Yoon's legal team today accused the prosecution team's move to seek an arrest warrant as "an illegal act, contrary to procedure, and violating the right to defense".
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Yoon Suk-yeol apologizes to the public during a speech in December 2024. Photo: AFP |
Yoon Suk-yeol apologizes to the public during a speech in December 2024. Photo: AFP
The legal team argued that Yoon has not received any summons from the prosecution team so far. "He wasn't even provided with information about the location of the prosecution team's office, the identities of the prosecutors in charge, or which agency would conduct the questioning", the legal team argued.
The team noted that the prosecutors citing the police summons as a reason for the arrest warrant has no legal value, since the police and prosecutors are two independent investigative bodies.
Yoon was arrested in January but released after 52 days in detention on court orders. He was impeached by the Constitutional Court in April and is facing criminal investigations on charges of rebellion and abuse of power related to martial law orders.
His wife, former first lady Kim Keon-hee, is also facing bribery allegations. On 24/6, Kim had her master's degree revoked by her university for alleged fraud in her thesis.
Duc Trung (According to Yonhap, Korea Times)
