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CIO eyeing arrest warrant for Yoon as president spurns summons a third time

Published: 29 Dec. 2024, 15:45 Updated: 15 Jan. 2025, 08:00

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

President Yoon Suk Yeol makes a public address on Dec. 7, three days after he rescinded his short-lived martial law decree. [PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE]

President Yoon Suk Yeol failed for a third time on Sunday to submit to questioning by investigators probing his short-lived imposition of martial law, raising the chances that they could apply for a warrant to arrest him.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading the joint task force in charge of the probe, said Yoon did not respond to a summons to appear for questioning at its headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi at 10 a.m. as requested by the agency on Thursday.

CIO chief Oh Dong-woon and all of the investigators probing treason and insurrection allegations against Yoon came into work on Sunday despite his eventual failure to appear.

The CIO has issued three summonses to Yoon thus far, but he has snubbed all of them. The previous two called on Yoon to attend questioning sessions on Dec. 18 and Christmas Day.

The impeached president has also failed to submit details of his legal defense team as well as his security detail to attend questioning sessions.

Yoon Gap-geun, the spokesperson for the president’s legal defense team, told Yonhap News Agency that “the various problems surrounding the CIO-led probe, including its lack of authority in alleged insurrection cases, must be resolved” before the president can decide whether or not he should appear for questioning by the agency.

The spokesperson also said that any attempt to detain the president “must be in accordance with the law.”

President Yoon’s principal lawyer and longtime acquaintance, Seok Dong-hyeon, made similar remarks last week, arguing it is “unclear” whether the agency has jurisdiction over cases involving the president.

However, the CIO believes it is empowered to investigate alleged abuses of authority, such as attempts to incite an insurrection, by high-ranking officials, including the president.

Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, arrives at his agency's headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Dec. 29. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Yoon’s repeated failure to obey the latest summons will likely lead the CIO to seek a court warrant for his arrest. Three summonses are usually the maximum before an investigative agency seeks an arrest warrant.

Under Korean law, investigative agencies can request a warrant to forcibly take a suspect into custody if the suspect fails to obey summonses without a reasonable explanation.

The CIO views the conditions for filing an arrest warrant as having been fulfilled given Yoon’s repeated refusal to answer its summonses.

The request for an arrest warrant against Yoon could be filed as early as Monday, according to CIO officials.

Any attempt to take Yoon into custody would still be fraught with difficulties as there is no precedent for a Korean court approving an arrest warrant against a sitting president.

The presidential security service has also resisted all attempts by any of the country’s investigative agencies to raid Yoon’s office or residence for documents that might shed more light on his decision to declare martial law on Dec. 3.

Oh has told lawmakers that his agency would warn the presidential security service against trying to block the execution of a potential arrest warrant against Yoon, which the CIO chief said could be construed as abusing authority and obstructing a public official’s duties.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]