SEOUL, South Korea (AP) 鈥� South Korean law enforcement officials requested a court warrant on Monday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which leads a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the that lasted only a few hours, confirmed it requested the warrant from the Seoul Western District Court. They plan to question Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion.
Yoon Kap-keun, the president鈥檚 lawyer, denounced the detention attempt and filed a challenge with the same court, arguing that the warrant request was invalid. He also claimed the anti-corruption agency lacked the legal authority to investigate rebellion charges. Still, he evaded answering how the legal team would respond if the court approved the warrant for the president鈥檚 detainment.
鈥淎n incumbent president cannot be prosecuted for abuse of power,鈥� the lawyer said. 鈥淥f course, there are differing academic opinions on whether a president can be investigated for abuse of power and some assert that investigations are possible. But even when investigations are allowed, the prevailing opinion is that they should be exercised with the utmost restraint.鈥�
The anti-corruption agency didn鈥檛 immediately respond to the lawyer鈥檚 comments.
Han Min-soo, spokesperson of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, called for the court to issue the warrant, saying Yoon Suk Yeol's detainment would be the first step toward 鈥渆nding the rebellion and restoring normalcy.鈥�
The warrant request came after Yoon dodged several requests by the joint investigation team and public prosecutors to appear for questioning and also blocked searches of his offices.
While Yoon has the presidential privilege of immunity from criminal prosecution, such protections don鈥檛 extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.
It鈥檚 not clear whether the court will grant the warrant or whether Yoon can be compelled to appear for questioning.
Under the country鈥檚 laws, locations potentially linked to military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge, and it鈥檚 unlikely that Yoon will voluntarily leave his residence if he faces detention. There are also concerns about possible clashes with Yoon鈥檚 presidential security service if authorities attempt to forcibly detain him.
Yoon鈥檚 presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over his imposition of martial law, which lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets.
Yoon鈥檚 fate now lies with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.
The National Assembly voted last week to also impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had assumed the role of acting president after Yoon鈥檚 powers were suspended, over his reluctance to fill three Constitutional Court vacancies ahead of the court鈥檚 review of Yoon鈥檚 case. The country鈥檚 new interim leader is Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is also finance minister.
To formally end Yoon鈥檚 presidency, at least six justices on the nine-member Constitutional Court must vote in favor. following retirements and a full bench could make conviction more likely.
Choi, who has been handling the government鈥檚 response to has yet to say whether he intends to appoint the Constitutional Court justices.
In a separate criminal investigation of Yoon, authorities have already arrested his police chief and several other military commanders involved in the attempt to enforce the martial law decree, which harkened back to the days of the country hasn鈥檛 seen since the 1980s.
In theory, the authority to investigate rebellion charges lies solely with the police, following a 2021 reform that redistributed investigative powers among law enforcement agencies and removed rebellion from the list of crimes prosecutors and the anti-corruption office could pursue. But those agencies have still been investigating rebellion accusations against Yoon, allegedly linked to charges related to abuse of power, a type of crime they are authorized to investigate.
Yoon and his military leadership have been accused of attempting to block the National Assembly from voting to end martial law by sending hundreds of heavily armed troops to encircle the building. Lawmakers who managed to get in voted unanimously 190-0 to lift martial law, hours after Yoon declared it in a late-night television address.
Yoon has also been accused of ordering defense counterintelligence officials to detain key politicians, including opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik and the ex-leader of his own conservative party, Han Dong-hun, a reformist who supported investigations into corruption allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee.
Yoon has defended the martial law decree as a necessary act of governance, portraying it as a temporary warning against the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he has described as an 鈥渁nti-state鈥� force obstructing his agenda with its majority in the National Assembly. Yoon has claimed he had no intention to paralyze the functioning of the assembly, saying that the troops were sent to maintain order, and also denied planning to arrest politicians.
Yoon鈥檚 claims have been denied by Kwak Jong-keun, the now-arrested commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, who testified in the National Assembly that Yoon called for troops to the assembly鈥檚 main chamber where the vote occurred. Kwak said he did not carry out Yoon鈥檚 orders.
The joint investigation team has also questioned Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho, commander of the Defense Intelligence Command who has also been arrested over suspicions that he sent troops to the National Election Commission in the city of Gwacheon after Yoon declared martial law.
Yoon has defended the troop deployment to the election commission, which happened at the same time as the military operation at the National Assembly, saying it was necessary to investigate supposed vulnerabilities in the commission鈥檚 computer systems potentially affecting the credibility of election results.
Yoon鈥檚 failure to offer any evidence in support of his claims has raised concerns that he was endorsing conspiracy theories on right-wing YouTube channels that April鈥檚 parliamentary elections were rigged. The Democratic Party won those elections by a landslide. The election commission rejected Yoon鈥檚 allegations, stating there was no basis to suspect election fraud.
Kim Tong-hyung, The Associated Press
