Yoon Suk-Youol is in a detention center in Seoul and is being tried by a local court by insurrection, following the brief statement of martial law in December
Korea Suk police announced Friday an investigation to President Yoon Suk-Yol on suspicion of obstructing the arrest warrant that he was targeted in January after a first attempt.
Police consider that the president, who remains in office despite being dismissed by Parliament in December, after declaring martial law, tried to block the execution of the detention warrant using the Presidential Security Service (PSS).
The text messages collected by the authorities show that Yoon gave instructions to PSS chief Kim Seong-Hoon, so that he tries to block police access to the presidential residence on January 3, in an first attempt to execute the warrant, as well as to January 15, the second time.
The first attempt was aborted after prosecutors and police officers try to access the residence where Yoon was refugee and being locked by PSS elements.
In the second attempt, the authorities launched a larger -scale operation, which included a thousand police officers, eventually accessing the residence after moments of tension, once again due to the human barriers formed by PSS agents, Yoon’s party politicians and hundreds of supporters who met at the scene.
Yoon is in a detention center in Seoul and is being tried by a local court by insurrection following the brief statement of martial law in December. The crime of insurrection is the only one that an acting president in South Korea is not immune and may lead to perpetual arrest or death penalty.
In addition, the leader is being the subject of another case in the Constitutional Court, which will determine, in the coming weeks, whether or not the Yoon’s dismissal is definitive.
If the Constitutional Court confirms the dismissal, Yoon loses immunity and may also be prosecuted by public function obstruction, a crime for which the South Korean Penal Code provides for a prison penalty up to five years.
Yoon and the team of lawyers stated that the capture warrants are illegal and alleged before the Constitutional Court that the statement of martial law was in accordance with the South Korean legal framework.
