Deposed president of South Korea did not appear this Sunday, for the third time, for questioning about the imposition of martial law
South Korea’s ousted president, Yoon Suk-yeol, failed to appear on Sunday for the third 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 third time that Yoon, a former prosecutor, has refused to comply with investigators’ subpoenas after rejecting a first subpoena on December 18.
In all cases, the letters of summons were returned to the sender after being rejected.
“President Yoon Suk-yeol did not appear,” the office said in a statement, adding that measures will have to be taken accordingly.
The anti-corruption agency can now issue a fourth subpoena or try to compel Yoon to appear by asking a court for a warrant.
Last Monday, Yoon’s lawyer had already warned that the deposed president would be unlikely to appear before the special team.
“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 Friday, South Korea’s parliament also removed the interim president after Han Duck-soo refused to launch a political investigation into Yoon.
The Democratic Party (PD) had given Han an ultimatum to appoint judges to vacant seats on the Constitutional Court.
This court, which is analyzing the process that led to the dismissal of Han’s predecessor, Yoon Suk-yeol, has six months to rule on the validity of this decision.
Filling the three positions vacant on the Constitutional Court since October could make Yoon’s removal more likely, as it requires the support of at least six of the court’s nine members.
Han Duck-soo’s impeachment request was filed after the acting president said he would not appoint new judges to the Constitutional Court until the PD and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) reached an agreement.
The PD, which has a clear parliamentary majority, wants to propose two of the three judges, while the PPP insists that both parties present one candidate each and reach an agreement on the third.
The main opposition party had also demanded that the interim president create two special commissions, including one to investigate Yoon’s imposition of martial law on December 3 and the deployment of the army to try to prevent parliament from suspending this measure. .
