Yoon had been summoned to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, the Senior Corruption Investigation Office, in Gwacheon, but did not show up.
South Korea’s ousted president, Yoon Suk-yeol, failed to appear this Wednesday for the second time for questioning over the imposition of martial law, a special investigation team said.
Yoon had been summoned to be at the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, the Senior Corruption Investigation Office, in Gwacheon, on the outskirts of Seoul, at 10am (1am in Lisbon), but did not show up.
This is the second time that , a former prosecutor, has refused to obey investigators’ subpoenas, after having rejected a first subpoena on December 18.
In both cases, the letters of summons were returned to the sender after being rejected.
The anti-corruption agency can now send a third subpoena or try to compel Yoon to appear by asking a court for a warrant.
On Monday, Yoon’s lawyer had already warned that it would be unlikely that the deposed president would appear before the special team today.
“The president believes that the impeachment trial before the Constitutional Court should have priority [sobre as investigações criminais]”, explicou Seok Dong-hyeon.
In addition to being the target of a criminal investigation, Yoon became, on December 14, the first sitting president to be removed from office in the history of South Korea, for having imposed martial law on December 3.
On Monday, South Korea’s main opposition party said it also wants to remove the interim president after Han Duck-soo refuses to launch a political investigation into Yoon.
The Democratic Party (DP) had given Han an ultimatum to enact two laws designed to create independent special commissions of inquiry.
One commission would investigate Yoon’s imposition of martial law and the deployment of the army to try to prevent parliament from suspending this measure, while the other would investigate corruption allegations against Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee.
Han refused the opposition’s request, arguing that such laws should be the subject of a consensus between the parties.
“We will immediately begin impeachment proceedings against Han,” said National Assembly opposition leader Park Chan-dae.
South Korea’s Constitution provides that parliament can dismiss the president with a two-thirds majority vote, and the prime minister and other members of the government with a simple majority.
The opposition, which has 192 of the 300 seats in the National Assembly, says it only needs a simple majority to depose Han as he is also prime minister.
The ruling People Power Party argues that a two-thirds majority is needed as Han is the interim president.
The PD also urged the country’s current leader to quickly appoint judges to vacant seats on the Constitutional Court.
This court, which is analyzing Yoon’s impeachment request, has six months to rule on the validity of the decision.
