The president South KoreanYoon Suk-yeol, went this Saturday to testify before the court that he must decide whether or not to extend the arrest of the deposed president, arrested by the national anti-corruption office for his fleeting declaration of martial law.
The vehicle transporting Yoon left shortly before 1:30 p.m. local time (4:30 GMT) from the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, where he was located, and arrived at its destination half an hour later, escorted by a delegation of security vehicles that were shaken by crowds gathered on the road, the Yonhap news agency broadcast live.
Yoon plans to explain before the Seoul Western District Court his arguments about the legitimacy of his imposition of the state of emergency on December 3, which cost him his dismissal eleven days later, and also try to restore his reputation, according to his legal team advanced.
The South Korean president was arrested last Wednesday after a long siege of his residence by the authorities and the court must now decide whether to extend the initial 48-hour period of detention, which has been intermittently suspended due to attempts by his defense to hinder the proceedings opened against him. The court is expected to make a decision on this Saturday night at the earliest.
If the request is accepted, Yoon’s detention could be extended up to 20 days. If rejected, he is expected to return to his residence to continue preparing his defense.
The request to extend Yoon’s detention was presented the day before by the Office for Corruption Cases of Senior Officials (CIO), the entity that leads a joint investigation with the Police and the Ministry of Defense into whether his declaration of martial law could have amounted to an attempted insurrectionthe only crime against which a South Korean president does not have immunity.
Yoon, the first president in South Korean history to be detained while in office (despite having been suspended from office for his impeachment), also He had filed an appeal to revoke his arrest warrant, which was rejected.
In parallel to this criminal investigation, the Constitutional Court of South Korea has another procedure open to decide before mid-June whether to maintain Yoon’s dismissal or restore his functions. The president, who underwent more than ten hours of interrogation by the CIO on the day of his arrest, He refused to appear in the two subsequent days of interrogationalleging health reasons and that he has already sufficiently explained his position, and has not appeared so far in the Constitutional Court. Yoon maintains that his imposition of martial law was “an exercise of presidential authority,” and not a crime.
