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President Yoon faces CIO grilling, possible special probe into insurrection charge

Published: 15 Jan. 2025, 19:05 Updated: 15 Jan. 2025, 19:28

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and police enter the presidential residence in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Jan. 15 on their way to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol. [YONHAP]

Following his arrest by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on Wednesday, President Yoon Suk Yeol faces an intense interrogation by the agency's investigators as well as the mounting possibility of a parliamentary special counsel probe.

The CIO, which issued Yoon three summonses to appear for questioning on Dec. 18, 25 and 29 before filing a warrant for his arrest on Dec. 31, has spent the past month preparing a list of questions regarding his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law that now exceeds 200 pages, according to agency officials.

The CIO’s interrogation of the impeached president is likely to focus on allegations that he ordered martial law forces to arrest key politicians, such as Democratic Party (DP) leader Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and then-People Power Party (PPP) leader Han Dong-hoon, and to forcibly remove lawmakers who gathered at the National Assembly to vote to overturn his decree.

Yoon is also accused of ordering martial law forces to take control of offices of the National Election Commission (NEC) and detain high-ranking NEC officials, presumably to contest the results of the April general election in which the DP and other liberal parties collectively won 192 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

Altogether, the allegations have led the CIO to suspect Yoon was the mastermind behind an attempted insurrection to replace the country’s democratic order with military rule.

The agency will also likely question Yoon about whether he followed proper legal procedure for declaring martial law.

Comments by Yoon’s ministers appeared to suggest that the Cabinet meeting where he announced his plan to impose martial law was not convened or concluded in accordance with legal protocol.

The CIO also plans to probe Yoon’s actions in the months leading up to Dec. 3 for indications that he planned to declare martial law in advance.

In a separate investigation, the state prosecution service found that Yoon met former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former Defense Counterintelligence Command chief Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyeong on at least six occasions over the past year and discussed using his emergency powers to “find a way” through the country’s political gridlock.

People Power Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun, far left, and other members of President Yoon Suk Yeol's legal defense team and his security detail arrive at the headquarters of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 15. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Yoon’s longtime acquaintance Seok Dong-hyeon, who has acted as the president’s media spokesperson in recent weeks, said Wednesday the president still intends to appear for oral arguments before the Constitutional Court scheduled at 2 p.m. on Thursday.

In addition to the CIO’s investigation, Yoon faces the mounting possibility of a special counsel probe being pushed by the DP.

The DP vowed on Wednesday to pass its special counsel bill at the plenary session of the National Assembly scheduled for Thursday.

The DP-backed special counsel probe controversially includes treason allegations that Yoon repeatedly tried to provoke an attack by North Korea to justify declaring martial law.

Though the PPP has proposed its own special counsel probe into Yoon’s actions, its version does not include charges of insurrection and treason.

However, it remains to be seen whether Yoon will cooperate with these investigations.

According to CIO officials who briefed reporters on Wednesday, the president is exercising his right to remain silent under interrogation for “unknown reasons.”

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]