Yoon Suk-yeol, the South Korean president dismissed by Parliament last December, continues to hinder the work of the authorities who detained him on Wednesday morning at the presidential residence. Meanwhile, a court on Thursday refused to revoke the arrest, which the president had challenged as illegal. The Office of Investigation of Corruption of Senior Officials (OICAF) is trying to support its accusation against the man who on December 3 enacted martial law in the country for six hours, unleashing the biggest institutional crisis in decades. , the conservative leader, 64, has refused to cooperate in the second day of interrogations, citing health problems, as reported by the OICAF.
Yoon has been provisionally suspended from his duties since mid-December, waiting for the Constitutional Court to decide whether to restore his powers or permanently depose him. On Wednesday of this week he became the first sitting president – technically, he still is – to be arrested in the democratic history of the Asian nation.
Yoon’s legal team notified this Thursday, ten minutes before the investigation process resumed (scheduled for 2:00 p.m. local time), that he would not give a statement, according to OICAF. Yun Gap-geun, one of his lawyers, had told the South Korean agency Yonhap that “the president does not plan to attend further interrogations,” despite the fact that OICAF had postponed the session at Yoon’s own request. “He is not feeling well and yesterday he explained his position in detail,” said the lawyer. The OICAF, however, assured the day before that the dismissed president had refused to answer all the questions asked of him during the more than ten hours that the first interrogation lasted.
His arrest is nothing more than a new chapter in a tense confrontation between state powers and agencies that has continued for several weeks. The former prosecutor-turned-politician is accused of planning the declaration of martial law and abusing his power. Yoon, who denies these accusations, ignored three summons in December to appear before the OICAF, which is in charge of directing the investigations into his case with the help of investigators from the police and the army.
The Seoul Western District Court approved the order to proceed with his detention on December 31. On January 3, OICAF was forced to abort the operation after the president’s security service prevented it from entering the official premises. The order had to be extended last week after it expired. Finally, the dismissed president was arrested on Wednesday, without offering resistance. Previously, in a videotaped statement, Yoon reiterated that the arrest warrant and investigation were “illegal and invalid,” but explained that he would surrender to OICAF to “avoid unwanted bloodshed.” More than 3,000 police officers marched to his home to arrest him, while a crowd of 6,500 supporters gathered near the complex.
act of insurrection
OICAF, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office and the Police are carrying out parallel investigations to clarify whether Yoon and his allies committed an act of insurrection on the night of December 3. They are accused of rebellion for sending Army troops to the National Assembly that day while its members were trying to revoke the martial law decree in an emergency vote, as allowed by the Constitution. The motion passed with 190 of its 300 deputies present, but the images of agents trying to block parliamentarians who were trying to enter the headquarters of the legislative branch that had a series of authoritarian leaders at the beginning of its recent history but has been considered democratic since the 1980s.
South Korean criminal law defines insurrection as any attempt to “overthrow governmental bodies established by the Constitution or prevent the exercise of their functions through the use of force.” Although the president enjoys immunity from most criminal proceedings, this privilege does not extend to charges of insurrection, a crime that carries a life sentence or the death penalty (on which there has been a moratorium since 1997). ).
Yoon’s lawyers insist that OICAF has no power to investigate charges of insurrection and emphasize that the arrest warrant is illegal because it was issued by a court of the wrong jurisdiction. This Thursday, the Seoul Central District Court reviewed the legality of that detention and refused to revoke it, keeping Yoon in custody. OICAF can hold Yoon for a maximum of 48 hours and request, within that period, another order that would allow it to detain him for up to 20 days and then take him to trial.
OICAF is an organization created in 2020 to combat corruption and limit the power of state prosecutors. However, the three agencies that investigate cases related to martial law agreed that OICAF would be in charge of directing the investigations into Yoon and that the Prosecutor’s Office would be in charge of those related to his collaborators.
Prosecutors have also arrested the former defense minister and two former police chiefs, accused of collaborating with an insurrection. On the other hand, the Constitutional Court has already started the trial in which it must conclude whether or not Yoon violated the Constitution by declaring the state of emergency and whether it rejects or validates his dismissal as head of State, which was approved by the National Assembly on last December 14th. The first session, on Tuesday, was suspended four minutes after starting due to Yoon’s absence. Today’s meeting could have been held, since the court can deliberate with or without its presence from the second hearing.
