SEOUL: South Korean anti-graft investigators were waiting on Tuesday (Jan 7) for a new court-ordered arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, whose failed martial law bid threw the country into turmoil.
The former star prosecutor has refused questioning three times over a bungled martial law decree last month and is holed up in his residence surrounded by hundreds of guards preventing his arrest.
As anti-graft officials seek a new warrant from the same court that issued the first order, Yoon remains holed up in his residence surrounded by hundreds of guards preventing his detention.
“The Joint Investigation Headquarters today refiled a warrant with the Seoul Western District Court to extend the arrest warrant for defendant Yoon,” the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) said in a statement late on Monday.
“Details regarding the validity period cannot be disclosed”, the CIO added after the initial seven-day warrant expired.
If investigators are able to detain Yoon, he would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
There was no comment by investigators or the Seoul court on the new warrant being approved by Tuesday afternoon.
However, CIO deputy director Lee Jae-seung told reporters earlier on Tuesday that the likelihood the court would not grant an extension was “very low”.
Yoon is being investigated on charges of “insurrection” and, if formally arrested and convicted, faces prison or, at worst, the death penalty.
His lawyers repeatedly said the initial warrant was “unlawful”, pledging to take further legal action against it.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued the CIO lacks the authority to investigate because insurrection is not included in the list of offences it can probe.
But the likelihood for the reissued warrant to be accepted was “quite high”, said Yun Bok-nam, president of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, who is not involved in the investigation.
It may take longer than expected for the warrant to be issued again.
“In the previous instance, it took quite a long time – almost a day and a half,” Yun told AFP.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-investigators-warrant-arrest-president-yoon-suk-yeol-4841911
