South Korea court issues arrest warrant for impeached president Yoon

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday again refused investigators’ efforts to question him over his failed martial law bid, as the deadline on his detention approached.Yoon threw the nation into chaos on December 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, 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 Wednesday’s dawn raid on Yoon’s residence allowed investigators to hold Yoon for just 48 hours.But they are expected to seek a new warrant Friday that will likely extend his detention by 20 days, allowing prosecutors time to formalize 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 Friday, would keep 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 Yoon for questioning at 10 am local time (0100 GMT) Friday, 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 Friday 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.Yoon was questioned for hours on Wednesday but exercised his right to silence before refusing to appear for interrogation the next day.Yoon’s supporters gathered outside the court Friday where investigators were expected to file for the new warrant, linking arms in an apparent attempt to block them, the Yonhap news agency reported.- Impeachment trial -Yoon 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 Wednesday in a second, and ultimately successful, effort to arrest him.When he was detained, Yoon said he had agreed to leave his compound to avoid “bloodshed”, but that he did not accept the legality of the investigation.The opposition Democratic Party celebrated Yoon’s arrest, with a top official calling it “the first step” to restoring constitutional and legal order.In a Facebook post on Wednesday after his detention, Yoon repeated unfounded election fraud claims and referred to “hostile” nations threatening the country, alluding to North Korea.Although 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 Yoon’s impeachment.If that happens, Yoon 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 Yoon’s absence and proceedings could last for months.