South Korea investigators seek to arrest former president Yoon again

Japan Times

07-07-2025

A Seoul court plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday to review a request by special prosecutors to detain former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a court official said on Monday.
The special counsel team investigating Yoon's martial law declaration in December has filed a request to the Seoul Central District Court to detain Yoon on allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice.
The special prosecution that kicked off its investigation after new leader Lee Jae Myung was elected in June has been looking into additional charges against Yoon, who is already on trial for insurrection related to his short-lived martial law.
The detention warrant request was made on the grounds of him being a flight risk and concerns that he might interfere with witnesses linked to his case, local media reported, citing a special prosecutors' request.
South Korean special prosecutors filed the new request on Sunday, one day after he appeared before them for questioning over his declaration of martial law last year.
Yoon was arrested in January after resisting authorities trying to take him into custody, but he was released after 52 days on technical grounds.
"Detention request is related to allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice," the special prosecutors investigating the declaration said in a statement.
The spokesperson for the special prosecutors declined to elaborate when asked why the detention request was submitted, saying they would explain it in court proceedings to decide on whether it should be granted.
Yoon's lawyers said in a statement that the special prosecutors had not provided credible evidence for the charges they were seeking, and his legal team would "explain in court that the request for an arrest warrant is unreasonable."
The former prime minister has been accused of mobilizing presidential guards to stop authorities from arresting him in January, but the court has previously dismissed the request for an arrest warrant after Yoon had initially refused to appear for questioning.
Yoon was ousted in April by the Constitutional Court, which upheld his impeachment by parliament for a martial law bid that shocked a country that had prided itself on becoming a thriving democracy after overcoming military dictatorship in the 1980s.
The Dec. 3 decree had been lifted after about six hours when lawmakers, who had been forced to scale the walls of the assembly building to make it through a ring of security forces, voted the decree down.
The former president is fighting the charges against him that include masterminding insurrection, which is punishable by death or life in prison. He rejects the allegations.
The special prosecutor was appointed just days after Lee took office on June 4, following his victory in a snap election called after Yoon's ouster, and leads a team of more than 200 lawyers and investigators.