South Korean President Yoon Fails to Appear for Interrogation

People in Seoul protest against President Yoon Suk-yeol, Dec. 12, 2024. X/ @TRTWorldNow

December 18, 2024 Hour: 8:24 am

Currently, he is accused of crimes such as rebellion, abuse of power, and insurrection.

On Wednesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol failed to appear for questioning after being summoned by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) regarding his declaration of martial law on December 3.

Previously, Yoon was summoned by a joint investigation team comprising police, the CIO, and the Ministry of Defense’s investigation unit to appear for questioning at the CIO’s headquarters in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, but he did not comply.

On Sunday, Yoon had already avoided a prior summons from the Prosecutor’s Office, which is conducting a parallel investigation into his decision to declare a state of emergency earlier this month, citing threats from the opposition to national democracy.

The Prosecutor’s Office has issued a second summons, warning that if Yoon fails to appear before December 21, it will consider requesting an arrest warrant. The CIO is also considering issuing a second summons and is analyzing whether circumstances would permit it to request an arrest warrant as well—a power typically reserved for prosecutors.

Le service de sécurité présidentiel de la République de Corée a refusé de recevoir les documents concernant le procès en destitution du président Yoon Suk-yeol de la part de la Cour constitutionnelle, ont rapporté mercredi plusieurs médias. https://t.co/xUT3WNxOHk pic.twitter.com/wKvXArwbhO
— Chine Nouvelle (@XHChineNouvelle) December 18, 2024

The text reads, “On Wednesday, several media outlets reported that the Republic of Korea’s presidential security service refused to receive documents from the Constitutional Court related to the impeachment of President Yoon Suk-yeol.”

Meanwhile, representatives from both investigative teams have indicated that the presidential security services have been returning the summonses delivered to them.

Yoon, who has been barred from leaving the country, is under investigation along with other members of his administration—including former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is currently in pretrial detention—and senior military and police officials. They are accused of crimes such as rebellion, abuse of power, and insurrection.

The charge of insurrection is the most serious and could lead to Yoon’s arrest, as even presidential immunity does not apply in cases of insurrection. For individuals deemed leaders of an uprising, the penalties include life imprisonment or the death penalty, although South Korea has maintained a moratorium on capital punishment since 1997.

On December 14, Yoon was impeached by the Parliament, and his future now depends on the Constitutional Court, which has up to six months to decide whether the president violated the Constitution by implementing martial law. The court will determine whether his removal from office should be upheld or if he should be reinstated.