 "South Korea impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on January 15, 2025 over his failed martial law bid, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities and becoming the first president to be detained in the nation's history. Photo: AFP | South Korean Presidential Office | File.")
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has again, on Friday, refused to attend questioning by investigators over his failed December 3 martial law bid, as the deadline on his detention neared.
The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), investigating Yoon on possible charges of insurrection, had summoned him for questioning at 10 am local time (0100 GMT) on Friday.
A report by AFP quoted Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kab-keun as saying that he had refused to appear for the second day in a row.
Yoon, on Wednesday (January 15) became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested. He was held at the Seoul Detention Centre after refusing to cooperate.
The arrest warrant executed on Wednesday allowed investigators to detain Yoon for just 48 hours.
They are, however, expected to seek a new warrant on Friday which is expected to extend Yoon’s detention by 20 days, giving prosecutors time to formalise an indictment against him.
If a fresh warrant is filed on Friday, will keep Yoon in detention until at least a court hearing and ruling for its approval over the weekend.
If the court rejects it after the hearing, he would be released.
Meanwhile, another lawyer claimed Friday that Yoon had already explained his position to investigators and had no reason to answer their questions.
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More Shorts“The president will not appear at the CIO today. He has sufficiently expressed his basic stance to the investigators on the first day,” the lawyer said.
Yoon was quizzed for hours on Wednesday but exercised his right to silence before refusing to appear for interrogation the next day.
An official from the CIO for High-ranking Officials leading the criminal inquiry said that Yoon, so far, has refused to talk to investigators who had prepared a questionnaire of more than 200 pages.
On Thursday, Yoon remained in the centre with his lawyer citing his health as a factor for his absence from the questioning.
As per a report by the Yonhap news agency, supporters of Yoon congregated in large numbers outside the court on Friday where investigators were expected to file for the new warrant, linking arms in an apparent attempt to block them.
Meanwhile, Yoon’s lawyers claim the arrest warrant is illegal because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team set up to investigate him had no legal mandate to do so.
His legal team also filed a complaint on Thursday over the warrant with the prosecutors’ office against the CIO chief and some police officials.
With inputs from agencies