The court issued an arrest warrant on the 31st for President Yoon Seok-yeol, who is suspected of rebellion due to the ’12/3 martial law incident.’
This is the first time in constitutional history that an arrest warrant has been issued for a sitting president.
Accordingly, it appears that the Corruption Investigation Office will soon move to the official residence where President Yoon is staying and begin executing the warrant.
This morning, Seoul Western District Court chief judge Lee Soon-hyung, in charge of warrants, issued an arrest warrant requested by the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office (Corruption Investigation Office) for President Yoon on charges of being the leader of a rebellion and abusing power and interfering with the exercise of rights. In addition, a search warrant was issued for the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
Because it was an unprecedented arrest warrant, the court took a long time to review it, and appears to have issued an arrest warrant based on the judgment that President Yoon’s charges, including insurrection, were to some extent proven.
The court ruled that President Yoon mobilized martial law forces and police to block the National Assembly to prevent the National Assembly from voting to lift martial law, issued unconstitutional and illegal proclamations, and attempted to arrest and detain key figures, including members of the National Assembly, and National Election Commission staff without warrants. It is interpreted as acceptance of the Corruption Investigation Office’s argument that a compulsory investigation is necessary, citing the fact that it attempted to do so.
The court also considered that the fact that President Yoon failed to comply with the Corruption Investigation Office’s repeated requests for attendance made it inevitable to forcibly secure new recruits.
Following the previous requests on the 18th and 25th, President Yoon also failed to comply with the third request to appear on the 29th, which was effectively an ultimatum. They remained completely unresponsive, not only refusing to receive mail such as attendance requests, but also failing to provide reasons for non-attendance. The attorney appointment report was also submitted to the court only after the arrest warrant was requested.
President Yoon’s side did not accept President Yoon’s claim that the request for an arrest warrant was illegal because there was no discussion on the personal safety or security issues of President Yoon, who is the president, and the Airborne Corruption Investigation Office does not have the authority to investigate treason.
The court ruled that the Corruption Investigation Office’s investigation into allegations of abuse of power against President Yoon was legal, and that the investigation into the corruption crime was possible because it was ‘related’ to it.
As the arrest warrant has been issued, the Corruption Investigation Office is expected to carry out the execution at President Yoon’s residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu. The validity period of an arrest warrant is usually one week from the date of issuance.
However, as President Yoon is the current president and is under the protection of the Presidential Security Service, and has shown an attitude of refusing to cooperate with procedures such as search and seizure, there is a possibility that physical conflict may occur during the execution process.
Source: www.nextdaily.co.kr
