Irate liberals threaten to impeach prosecutor general after Yoon's release from custody

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Irate liberals threaten to impeach prosecutor general after Yoon's release from custody

Published: 09 Mar. 2025, 18:56

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol makes a triumphant fist gesture toward his supporters as he leaves the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, on March 8. [YONHAP]

The liberal Democratic Party (DP) and its allies threatened to impeach Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung on Sunday, a day after the state prosecution service released President Yoon Suk Yeol from custody without appealing a court decision that his detention was invalid on technical grounds.

Though prosecutors had a week to contest Friday’s ruling by the Seoul Central District Court, which found they had held Yoon in custody longer than legally allowed before indicting him, they instead decided to release him on Saturday, 52 days after he became the first Korean president to be arrested while in office.

His release led liberals to turn their ire on prosecutors, whom they have long accused of being biased in favor of conservatives.

Speaking at a joint press conference held by representatives of the DP, the Rebuilding Korea Party, the Jinbo Party, Basic Income Party and Social Democratic Party on Sunday, DP spokesperson Rep. Jo Seoung-lae said the five parties intend to impeach Shim if he does not resign.

The five liberal parties collectively hold 190 seats in the 300-member National Assembly.

Jo added that the DP and its allies “have decided to file a criminal complaint against Shim with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO),” the investigative agency favored by liberals, and “urge the Constitutional Court to swiftly and decisively rule to dismiss President Yoon from office.”

The previous day, Jo criticized Yoon for exhibiting a “shameless attitude” upon his release.

Yoon pumped a triumphant fist into the air and bowed multiple times to supporters as he left the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

He repeated the same gestures as he arrived at his official residence in Hannam-dong, located in Yongsan District, central Seoul, later in the evening.

The impeached president also struck a defiant tone in a post-release statement, where he called his legal battles “a fight to defend freedom and the rule of law in Korea” and a “struggle against those who want to usurp power by illegal means.”

He further promised to “endure in this fight to the end” and expressed hope that “others imprisoned in connection with [his] arrest are released soon.”

Observers believe Yoon’s release is unlikely to affect the Constitutional Court’s upcoming ruling regarding his impeachment or his criminal trial on insurrection charges tied to his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.

Following a meeting of the DP lawmakers on Sunday, party floor leader Rep. Park Chan-dae accused the prosecutor general of deliberately “failing to correct the court’s misinterpretation of the law” by not challenging its decision.

Observers believe the state prosecution service decided to forego an appeal in accordance with a previous Constitutional Court ruling against prosecutors for immediately contesting a court order that revoked a suspect’s arrest.

Democratic Party leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung, center of first row, and other lawmakers from his party hold up placards while calling for Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung's resignation at the National Assembly on March 9. [NEWS1]

DP leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung characterized prosecutors as Yoon’s “accomplices” and expressed suspicion that they deliberately miscalculated the length of time they could legally hold Yoon in custody.

“I cannot believe that they failed to properly carry out that kind of basic computation,” Lee said, adding, “I have trouble understanding why they didn’t immediately appeal the court’s decision.”

In its ruling, the Seoul Central District Court determined that prosecutors had indicted Yoon after his legal detention period ended.

Under Korean law, a suspect must be freed from custody if prosecutors fail to file an indictment before their arrest warrant expires.

In a twist, the court determined the legal duration of Yoon’s detention should be calculated in hours, not calendar days, as prosecutors had argued was usually the case.

Yoon was taken into custody by the CIO at 10:33 a.m. on Jan. 15, and his detention was originally due to end at midnight on Jan. 24.

The Seoul Western District Court issued a formal arrest warrant against him at 2:53 a.m. on Jan. 19, 33 hours and 7 minutes after it received the CIO’s investigation records for review on Jan. 17.

According to the Seoul Central District Court, this delay extended Yoon’s detention to 9:07 a.m. on Jan. 26. However, prosecutors only filed their indictment at 6:52 p.m. the same day.

Both the CIO and prosecution argued that extensions of Yoon’s detention period should be calculated by days, not hours.

The court’s decision was based on a strict interpretation of the Criminal Procedure Act that favors defendants when infringements of their rights may have occurred.

In its ruling, the Seoul Central District Court also accepted arguments by Yoon’s lawyers that the official grounds for detaining him no longer existed.

The court’s decision was applauded by members of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), which has largely stood by Yoon through his impeachment and criminal proceedings.

PPP floor leader Rep. Kweon Seong-dong on Sunday also accused the DP of abusing the Assembly’s impeachment powers and “waging a pressure campaign against the Constitutional Court” to uphold Yoon’s impeachment.

Kweon further argued that Yoon’s arrest and detention were “unlawful from the start,” citing the court’s decision questioning whether the CIO had the authority to investigate the president on insurrection charges.

BY MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]