Please don’t refuse the summons, Mr. President
Published: 30 Dec. 2024, 19:30
The joint investigation team comprised of the National Police Agency, the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) for High-ranking Officials and the Investigation Headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense has announced that it requested an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol from the Western District Court on Monday. The team applied the charges of plotting a rebellion against the state and abuse of power to the president for his out-of-the blue declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.
Yoon has been suspended from presidential duties after he was impeached by the National Assembly on Dec. 14. In an utterly disgraceful development, an investigative authority requested an arrest warrant for an incumbent president. That is unprecedented in Korea’s modern history and very rare in other countries, too. Who could have imagined such a shameful episode will unfold in a country which achieved industrialization and democratization simultaneously in the past three decades?
But the president himself invited it. What the prosecution discovered from its investigations of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and other military commanders was shocking. President Yoon instructed the former capital defense commander to “break into the National Assembly even at gunpoint and drag all of the lawmakers out of the building.”
Our Constitution stipulates that a head of state can declare martial law only when the country is at war or during such national emergencies. But Yoon’s abrupt declaration of martial law and the following mobilization of the military to neutralize the legislature clearly goes against the Constitution. Fortunately, commanders on the spot acted prudently rather than blindly following the order from the commander in chief.
The president didn’t comply with the CIO’s repeated requests for summoning him for investigations. Our Criminal Procedure Act allows investigative authorities to arrest any suspects if they refuse summons without reasonable grounds. Nevertheless, a lawyer for the president reiterated his argument that the CIO is not elligible to investigate the crime of rebellion.
Our Constitution clearly states that all citizens are equal before the law. Even the president cannot be an exception. President Yoon already pledged that he wouldn’t avoid any legal and political responsibility. We hope the president to accept investigation requests from law enforcement agencies. If the arrest warrant is legitimately issued by the court, the president must accept it. We hope that the Presidential Security Service or his supporters will not block the legitimate law enforcement with physical force.
Yoon has been suspended from presidential duties after he was impeached by the National Assembly on Dec. 14. In an utterly disgraceful development, an investigative authority requested an arrest warrant for an incumbent president. That is unprecedented in Korea’s modern history and very rare in other countries, too. Who could have imagined such a shameful episode will unfold in a country which achieved industrialization and democratization simultaneously in the past three decades?
But the president himself invited it. What the prosecution discovered from its investigations of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and other military commanders was shocking. President Yoon instructed the former capital defense commander to “break into the National Assembly even at gunpoint and drag all of the lawmakers out of the building.”
Our Constitution stipulates that a head of state can declare martial law only when the country is at war or during such national emergencies. But Yoon’s abrupt declaration of martial law and the following mobilization of the military to neutralize the legislature clearly goes against the Constitution. Fortunately, commanders on the spot acted prudently rather than blindly following the order from the commander in chief.
The president didn’t comply with the CIO’s repeated requests for summoning him for investigations. Our Criminal Procedure Act allows investigative authorities to arrest any suspects if they refuse summons without reasonable grounds. Nevertheless, a lawyer for the president reiterated his argument that the CIO is not elligible to investigate the crime of rebellion.
Our Constitution clearly states that all citizens are equal before the law. Even the president cannot be an exception. President Yoon already pledged that he wouldn’t avoid any legal and political responsibility. We hope the president to accept investigation requests from law enforcement agencies. If the arrest warrant is legitimately issued by the court, the president must accept it. We hope that the Presidential Security Service or his supporters will not block the legitimate law enforcement with physical force.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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