
Yoon refuses CIO questioning on Sunday; ruling bloc objects to court-issued warrant
A criminal trial of President Yoon Suk Yeol on charges related to the martial law debacle looms large, as a South Korean court issued a warrant on Sunday to place him under arrest for up to six months.
Forty-seven days after Yoon declared martial law to crack down on his political opponents whom he described as "anti-state forces" -- although no armed conflict with a foreign country had occurred -- the 64-year-old Yoon became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested under a court warrant.
The Seoul Western District Court said Yoon's arrest was inevitable due to "concerns that (Yoon) might tamper with evidence" related to his martial law decree in December. The court's five-hour warrant hearing Saturday was attended by Yoon and his eight lawyers.
The court's decision to grant the warrant prompted violence outside the courtroom. Police as of Sunday press time had nabbed at least 87 people for instigating violence at the rally calling for Yoon's release from prison.
Arrested under the new court warrant, Yoon went through the booking process at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday. He had his fingerprints and photograph taken as he became an inmate at the prison in the southern suburbs of Seoul. Before the court's formal arrest warrant was issued, Yoon was in custody but he was not considered an inmate there.
Under the Criminal Procedure Act, those who are formally arrested under a court warrant and are waiting for a district court ruling are detained for at least two months. Their detention can be extended to as long as six months if up to two further warrants are issued by the relevant court.
In other words, if a district court fails to hand down a verdict on Yoon's alleged insurrection within six months, Yoon will be released from prison and await the court ruling.
Suspended from his position after the parliament passed a motion to impeach him on Dec. 14, Yoon has refused to comply with the joint investigation's requests to appear for questioning and has impeded their execution of a court warrant for a search and seizure operation at the presidential office. His guards once blocked investigators from serving a court warrant to detain Yoon for up to two days.
Yoon was detained last Wednesday under a warrant issued by the Seoul Western District Court that permits a suspect to be held for up to 48 hours, after which investigators can seek a formal arrest warrant.

With the new warrant, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials will have at least eight more days to interrogate the suspended president, after which they are expected to refer the case to the prosecution.
Prosecutors will likely indict Yoon in early February, as they have the power to charge the sitting president with insurrection. Under the Constitution, a sitting president is immune to indictment for any crime other than insurrection and treason.
The CIO, the body of prosecutors tasked with investigating the incumbent president, requested the suspect appear for questioning on Sunday afternoon, but Yoon's representatives declined.
As of Sunday morning, the CIO said it was not immediately planning for a forced summons or questioning at the prison.
“The related matters need to be reviewed,” a CIO official who declined to be named told reporters in a press briefing held at its headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. The state anti-corruption agency plans to ask Yoon to appear for questioning at 10 a.m. Monday.
The official added that the interrogation will be conducted thoroughly once again, as the suspended president answered none of the questions asked by investigators on the first day of his detention.
Though the CIO tentatively agreed with the prosecution service that the 20-day detention period would be split into two 10-day phases, the CIO official left the door open to possible adjustments.
“It is difficult to confirm, but the detention period has to be decided according to the progress made and the circumstances of the investigation,” the official said.

Before the meeting, ruling bloc figures objected to the court decision to arrest Yoon because of his role in the alleged insurrection and the risk he might destroy evidence.
Rep. Shin Dong-uk, senior spokesperson of the ruling People Power Party, said the incumbent president poses no risk of flight or tampering with evidence, adding that he doubted whether the court took into account the repercussions of arresting a sitting president.
"I deeply regret the court's decision," Shin said. "I hope any future court proceedings (concerning Yoon's martial law decree) will steer clear of any controversies and shortcomings."
Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk, who presided over a closed-door meeting of Yoon's senior secretaries on Sunday, posted on his Facebook account that people "will ultimately come to a conclusion on whether (Yoon's martial law declaration) was an insurrection meant to disrupt the constitutional order, or a contingency measure to stop the constitutional order from being disrupted."
The ruling bloc also claimed the court was failing to treat suspects fairly.
Rep. Kwon Young-se, who leads the ruling party, told reporters that Yoon's right to defend himself must be upheld, comparing his case to that of opposition leader Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who faces multiple corruption charges.
A court "rejected a warrant to arrest Lee in order to guarantee his right of self-defense" when Lee in September 2023 avoided a jail term, Kwon said.
This was in line with a comment by an official of the presidential office that the warrant that enabled Yoon's arrest "could undermine people's trust in the fairness of the judiciary."
Yoon's representatives also decried the court order, saying the court's judgments are being made "on an uneven playing field."
The CIO official expressed the agency’s deep regret over the accusations, saying they deny the rule of law and do not serve to resolve the case within the legal system.
Before Yoon's arrest, four former presidents -- Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye -- faced criminal punishment following a court verdict, but none of them were serving as president at the time they were arrested.