South Korean Authorities Seek Warrant for Impeached President Yoon
South Korean officials are pursuing a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon amid a probe into his martial law declaration
Seoul, South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, Martial Law, Impeachment, Corruption Investigation
Seoul: So, things are getting pretty intense in South Korea. The authorities are trying to get a court warrant to detain the impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. They’re looking into whether his brief martial law declaration back in December was actually a rebellion.
The Corruption Investigation Office is leading this joint probe with the police and military. They’ve confirmed they’ve asked the Seoul Western District Court for the warrant. They want to question Yoon about some serious charges, like abuse of authority and possibly orchestrating a rebellion.
Yoon’s lawyer isn’t having it, though. He’s called the warrant request invalid and has filed a challenge in court. He argues that the anti-corruption agency doesn’t have the legal right to investigate rebellion charges. But he didn’t really say what they’d do if the court goes ahead and approves the warrant.
His lawyer insists that an incumbent president can’t be prosecuted for abuse of power. There’s a lot of debate about whether a president can be investigated for that, but most folks think it should be done very carefully.
The anti-corruption agency hasn’t responded to the lawyer’s comments yet. Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the opposition party is pushing for the court to issue the warrant, saying it’s a necessary step to restore normalcy.
This whole situation escalated after Yoon ignored several requests to appear for questioning and blocked searches of his offices. Even though he has some immunity from prosecution, that doesn’t cover rebellion or treason.
It’s still up in the air whether the court will grant the warrant or if Yoon will be forced to show up for questioning. Under South Korean law, places linked to military secrets can’t be searched without permission, so it’s unlikely Yoon will just leave his home if he’s facing detention.
Yoon’s powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him over that martial law declaration, which only lasted a few hours but caused a lot of political chaos and even rattled the financial markets.
Now, it’s up to the Constitutional Court to decide whether to uphold the impeachment or reinstate him. They need at least six out of nine justices to vote in favor to formally end his presidency.
Things are also heating up for Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who’s been impeached too, and the new interim leader is Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok. He’s been busy handling a tragic plane crash that killed 179 people.
In a separate investigation, Yoon’s defense minister and several military commanders have already been arrested for their roles in trying to enforce that martial law decree, which many see as a throwback to the country’s authoritarian past.
Interestingly, the authority to investigate rebellion charges is supposed to lie with the police, but the anti-corruption office has been looking into Yoon’s actions anyway, linking them to abuse of power allegations.
Yoon and his military team are accused of trying to block the National Assembly from voting to lift martial law by surrounding the building with armed troops. Lawmakers managed to vote unanimously to end it just hours after Yoon declared it.
He’s also facing accusations of trying to detain key politicians, including opposition leaders. Yoon claims he only wanted to maintain order and never intended to paralyze the assembly.
But there’s a twist: the now-arrested commander of the Army Special Warfare Command testified that Yoon ordered troops to forcibly remove lawmakers from the assembly. Yoon’s defense is that he