The Tamesis
January 2, 2025
Seoul – The lead investigator on President Yun Seok-yeol’s case of rebellion and abuse of power said on Wednesday that Yoon Seok-yeol’s arrest will be carried out before the expiry of an arrest warrant issued by the court, and warned the presidential security team to cooperate with legal actions.
Oh Dong-woon, director of the Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Office, said: “We (investigators) will exercise our rights to arrest and search warrants (Yin) in accordance with principles.” He added that the chief information officer was discussing when to make the arrest, but said it would be in The arrests were made after Jan. 6 before the warrants expired.
The chief information officer has asked the Presidential Security Service to cooperate with the impending arrests, the agency head said. Wu warned that those who interfere with arrests could be charged with abuse of power and obstruction of official duties, both of which would be subject to criminal investigation.
The lead investigator said that refusing to open the door to the presidential palace, locking the gate, erecting roadblocks and failing to comply with an arrest warrant were all acts of obstructing official business and promised to press ahead with legal proceedings even if he encountered resistance.
The presidential security team has rejected searches related to the insurrection charges Yoon faces and said it would hand over relevant data. Theoretically, a president can have his office and residence searched and even arrested when accused of insurrection, but historically no sitting president has been arrested or even had his office searched.
In the case of former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached on corruption charges, her security team prevented investigators from searching the Blue House, although unlike Yoon Eun-hye, she was not under investigation for rebellion at the time.
The Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant for Yoon on Tuesday as he faces a criminal investigation on charges of rebellion and abuse of power related to orders issued after martial law was declared on December 3. This is the first time a court has issued an arrest warrant for a sitting president, a legal decision that came after Yoon repeatedly refused to comply with subpoena orders from the chief information officer.
Yoon also faces an impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on the above-mentioned rebellion and abuse of power charges. Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday approved the appointment of two of the three new Constitutional Court judges nominated by the National Assembly, as the Constitutional Court currently has only one vacant seat.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik said the National Assembly will make every effort to advance the impeachment trial and investigations into issues related to martial law.
