A local court has rejected a request to issue an arrest warrant for former president Yoon Suk-yeol related to a probe into his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, the Yonhap News Agency said yesterday, citing a special prosecutor.
A spokesperson for the Seoul Central District Court and the prosecution office could not immediately be reached for comment.
South Korea’s special prosecutor had asked the court on Tuesday to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon as an investigation intensified over the ousted leader’s botched bid to declare martial law in December.
Yoon, who is already facing a criminal trial on insurrection charges for issuing the martial law declaration, was arrested in January after resisting authorities trying to take him into custody, but was released after 52 days on technical grounds.
The new warrant was on a charge of obstruction, a senior member of the special prosecutor’s team of investigators said on Tuesday.
Yoon had refused to respond to summons for questioning as required under criminal procedures and investigators would “not get dragged around” by him, Park Ji-young, a deputy to the special prosecutor, told a televised briefing on YTN TV.
Lawyers representing Yoon said they had not been served a proper summons after the special prosecutor was appointed and that Yoon would respond once it was served in a legal manner.
Yoon had been under investigation by the police and the state prosecutors’ office on a number of charges stemming from the failed attempt in December to impose military rule.
A special prosecutor was appointed just days after President Lee Jae-myung took office on June 4, following his victory in the snap election triggered by Yoon’s ouster in April.
The prosecutor has since assembled a team of over 200 prosecutors and investigators to take over ongoing probes into Yoon , who is battling charges that include masterminding an insurrection. — Reuters
