Yoon skips trial as court battle escalates, probe deepens
Former President Yoon Suk Yeol skipped his insurrection trial Thursday, just hours after being detained over evidence-tampering concerns in a separate case, prompting a sharp dispute over the legitimacy of his sudden health-related absence.
The special counsel team urged the Seoul Central District Court to take appropriate measures against Yoon so that the former president does not miss his criminal trial hearing in which he was supposed to appear as a defendant.
'The defendant was absent without a valid reason. We request that the court insist that the defendant prevent such an incident from occurring again. Should the defendant be absent again, we ask that measures such as forcing the defendant to attend the hearing be considered by the court,' said the special counsel team.
Yoon's attorneys argued that he submitted a notice of absence before the hearing, citing health reasons and that it was not appropriate for him to attend the trial just hours after he was detained.
The Seoul Central District Court approved the special counsel's request for a warrant while it investigated allegations including abuse of power. Yoon was formally taken into detention early Thursday , four months after he was released in March, when a warrant related ot the insurrection case expired.
'The defendant had been detained for less than eight hours. And even if he was notified by fax or phone call to appear at court, we question whether such a summons was legally valid,' said Yoon's legal representatives.
Now in custody, Yoon is expected to face at least 20 more criminal trial hearings this year, with the possibility of being detained for up to 18 months as his case moves through the courts.
The court issued a 20-day detention warrant ahead of his indictment by the special counsel. If indicted while in custody, he could be held for up to six months during the district court trial, with additional six-month detentions possible at both the appellate and Supreme Court stages.
The former president will now attend his criminal trial hearings from the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. Following the court's approval of his detention, Yoon had his personal information verified, was assigned an inmate number, and had his mugshot taken.
The presidential security personnel who were previously assigned to the former president have also been withdrawn.
According to the Former President Special Treatment Act stipulates security and protection may be provided to former president and their spouses for a necessary period. However, as he has been taken into custody and transferred to the correctional authorities, such privileges are no longer applied.
Yoon is expected to travel to and from court without any security personnel, accompanied only by correctional officers and transported in a convoy vehicle.
Yoon was protected by the Presidential Security Service officials during his first 52-day detention period — from mid-January to early March — as he was waiting for the Constitutional Court's ruling that impeached him in early April.
The special counsel team is also expected to gain momentum with its investigation as it is scheduled to question the arrested former president on Friday. The special counsel team — led by Cho Eun-suk to investigate illegalities related to the former president's short-lived martial law declaration.
Yoon's alleged treason is one of the key allegations that the investigators will focus on, as the special counsel team did not include this suspicion in the latest warrant request, as substantial materials remained for investigation.
The proposed treason charge centers on the former president allegedly ordering a military drone to be deployed over Pyongyang, North Korea, as part of a scheme to falsely justify his martial law imposition by goading the North into aggressive action.
Additional probes into the former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo are also expected, as he was named as one of the accomplices who attempted to prepare false public documents.
The special counsel previously revealed that Yoon fabricated an official martial law document two days after declaring martial law, on Dec. 5, 2024.
Though the martial law imposition was lifted by the National Assembly, Han and former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun reportedly signed the backdated document to make Yoon's martial law declaration appear as if it had been issued through an appropriate legal procedure.
Kang Eui-gu, at the time a secretary at the presidential office who drafted the document, reportedly testified in the special counsel investigation that the document was discarded at Han's request and upon Yoon's approval. The decision violated Article 82 of the Constitution, which stipulates that acts of the president under law shall be executed in writing and such documents need to be signed by the prime minister and Cabinet members concerned.
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