(Yonhap)
(Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday again failed to appear for questioning as requested by the investigation team handling his insurrection charge concerning his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law.

The president did not arrive at the headquarters of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials -- an independent investigative body targeting corruption accusations by to-level government officials -- at the ordered time of 10 a.m.

The CIO said it will wait for the president for the remainder of the day, and would decide as early as Thursday whether to summon Yoon again or request an arrest warrant for him.

The president already refused to comply with the CIO's Dec. 18 summons for questioning and was widely expected to snub the orders again Wednesday.

Seok Dong-hyeon, Yoon's lawyer and long-time confidant, said Tuesday that his client's priority is the Constitutional Court proceedings on his impeachment. He said it was "unlikely" that Yoon would attend the questioning by the investigators on Christmas Day.

Yoon is currently under criminal investigation for insurrection and abuse of power, and his impeachment motion was passed by the National Assembly on Dec. 14. The president has not complied with either process, as he also refused to accept the legal documents sent by the Constitutional Court related to his impeachment trial.

Yoon has stayed mostly out of the public eye since his botched martial law declaration on Dec. 3, during which he is suspected of giving several potentially illegal orders. He has been staying at the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, and reports claim he has not fully formed a legal team to represent him in the criminal investigation.


minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com