January 2, 2025
Seoul – The lead investigator on President Yoon 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 information chief was discussing when to make the arrest, but said it would be on 1 Arrests will be made after March 6 before the warrant expires.
The head of the agency said the information chief has asked the Presidential Security Service to cooperate with the upcoming arrests. Wu warned that those who interfered with the arrests could be charged with abuse of power and obstruction of official duties, both of which would be subject to criminal investigation.
The leader of the investigation team said that refusing to open the door of the presidential palace, locking the door, setting up roadblocks and failing to comply with the arrest warrant are all acts of obstruction of official duties, and promised to press forward with legal proceedings even if it encounters 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 on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Yoon, who 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 is facing an impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court on the above charges of rebellion and abuse of power. 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 that the National Assembly will do its best to promote the legal proceedings of the impeachment trial and the investigation of issues related to martial law.
