CIO moves to force Yoon to attend interrogation
Published: 20 Jan. 2025, 18:09
Updated: 20 Jan. 2025, 19:02
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- MICHAEL LEE
- [email protected]
![The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 20 [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/20/69a741cf-e9e0-431d-97f6-9576482b1070.jpg)
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 20 [NEWS1]
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) moved on Monday evening to force impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to appear for an interrogation, hours after he refused to appear for questioning earlier in the day.
The CIO’s decision to forcibly summon Yoon came a day after the Seoul Western District Court issued a formal arrest warrant against him over suspicions that he masterminded an insurrection to overthrow the country’s democratic order with his martial law decree.
Yoon has been in the CIO’s custody since Wednesday, when the agency detained him at his official residence in Yongsan District, central Seoul.
The arrest warrant allows the agency to hold Yoon for up to 20 days, as opposed to the original detention warrant, which was valid for only 48 hours.
Excepting the day he was detained, when he remained mostly silent over almost 11 hours of questioning, Yoon has refused to attend all interrogations by the CIO, including the latest one scheduled for Monday.
The office had said earlier Monday that it could haul Yoon in for questioning, citing a 2013 ruling by the Supreme Court that permits subjects of arrest warrants to be forcibly summoned for investigation.
In a briefing with reporters at the agency’s headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, a CIO official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the agency “believes it is necessary to carry out an in-person investigation.”
The official said the CIO is “open to holding the interrogation at the prison” but added that a forced summons is being “strongly considered” by the agency, which is also considering extending Yoon’s arrest period from Jan. 28 to Feb. 7 in light of his refusal to cooperate.
The state prosecution service is likely to indict Yoon before the expiry of the arrest warrant.
The CIO’s decision to try and force the impeached president to attend questioning came hours after police failed to raid a presidential safe house and the headquarters of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) for documents related to Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.
According to police officials, the raids were intended to secure documents and security camera footage from Dec. 3 and 4 that could help determine the movements of officials accused of supporting and collaborating with Yoon’s martial law decree.
These individuals include National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho and then-Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik, who met with Yoon at the safe house three hours before he announced his decree, allegedly to receive their first orders under martial law.
![Reporters line the road outside the presidential safe house in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 20, as police attempt to raid the residence for documents and surveillance camera footage tied to President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 declaration of martial law. [NEWS1]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/20/064f097e-6630-4191-b51a-cd1d41166c19.jpg)
Reporters line the road outside the presidential safe house in Jongno District, central Seoul, on Jan. 20, as police attempt to raid the residence for documents and surveillance camera footage tied to President Yoon Suk Yeol's Dec. 3 declaration of martial law. [NEWS1]
Four other officials — former Justice Minister Park Seong-jae, former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Joo-hyun and Legislation Minister Lee Wan-gyu — are also accused of meeting Yoon at the safe house hours after the National Assembly voted to overturn the martial law decree on Dec. 4.
Security footage from the safe house, located in the Samcheong-dong neighborhood of Jongno District, central Seoul, is managed by the PSS, which resisted previous attempts by police to raid the presidential office and Yoon’s official residence.
Although initial reports on Monday said police had also launched a raid on the presidential office, an official from the investigative task force said they had only sent a representative to seek the office’s cooperation.
However, the PSS refused to cooperate with the police, forcing them to abandon the raids.
The PSS has invoked Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Act, which prohibit raids without the consent of the authority in charge of a site that deals with military or official secrets, to bar investigators from entering the presidential office during previous raids.
![A police officer stands guard outside the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 20. [YONHAP]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2025/01/20/27551ee1-8dda-4dc0-a7f4-ac43b45d1be0.jpg)
A police officer stands guard outside the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on Jan. 20. [YONHAP]
Yoon, who has been held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, since he was detained on Wednesday, was moved to the prison’s general wing on Sunday after his arrest warrant was issued.
He can no longer wear civilian clothes in detention and must wear the standard-issue jumpsuit provided to prisoners by the facility.
After having his mug shot taken and undergoing a physical examination, the impeached president is being housed in a room that normally accommodates six to seven prisoners, according to Shin Yong-hae, chief of the country’s correctional service.
Shin also said Yoon is being supervised by a dedicated guard to ensure his safety in the prison.
However, he is forbidden from meeting all outside visitors, which his longtime acquaintance and unofficial spokesperson Seok Dong-hyun characterized as akin to “covering his eyes and ears” in a post uploaded to Facebook on Monday.
“Even while he is suspended from his official duties, a sitting president must be able to follow what is going on in the country,” Seok argued, adding that Yoon should be kept informed beyond the limited news broadcasts he can watch inside the prison “to prepare for the possibility of his return to office.”
Seok also claimed that “even former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye were able to receive reports from Cabinet members and Blue House officials" during their impeachment periods and called Yoon’s isolation “a truly incomprehensible situation.”
Update, Dec. 20: CIO decision on Monday evening to forcibly question Yoon added.
BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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