By Joyce Lee and Ju-min Park
SEOUL (Reuters) – Arrested South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was unable to attend a second day of questioning by investigators on Thursday, hampering a criminal probe into whether he committed insurrection with his proposal for martial law.
Yoon on Wednesday became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested and taken to the Seoul detention center after refusing to cooperate. He remained at the center Thursday, with his lawyer citing his health as a factor.
Authorities have 48 hours to question the suspended president, after which they must release him or seek an arrest warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
Yoon’s refusal to cooperate with investigators comes as the Constitutional Court held a second hearing in his impeachment trial to determine whether he should be permanently removed from office or restore his presidential powers.
South Korea is grappling with its worst political crisis in decades, triggered by Yoon’s brief attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3, which was rejected by Parliament.
During opening arguments before the Constitutional Court, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Party condemned Yoon for the “December 3 insurrection” and said Yoon and a small number of supporters had sought to stir up chaos by refusing to accept his arrest warrant.
“This impeachment trial decides whether or not to bring back someone like this as commander-in-chief responsible for controlling the military,” said Jung Chung-rae, who heads the House’s legislative and judiciary committee. Parliament.
In response, one of Yoon’s defenders said his impeachment was not intended to defend the constitution but to allow the opposition “to use the majority power of Parliament to usurp the position of president.”
The main opposition Democratic Party used its majority in parliament to provoke a vote to impeach Yoon, although a dozen lawmakers from Yoon’s own party also voted in favor of impeachment.
Opinion polls conducted by Realmeter on December 4, the day after Yoon declared martial law, showed that 73.6 percent of respondents supported Yoon’s impeachment.
Meanwhile, the latest opinion polls conducted by Realmeter on January 9 and 10 showed that support for Yoon’s ruling party increased to 40.8 percent, close to the main opposition party’s 42.2 percent. , the Democratic Party.
Yoon’s lawyer Cho Dae-hyen said the suspended president’s decision to declare martial law was made in good faith because he believed the country was in a state of emergency.
Another of Yoon’s lawyers, Bae Jin-han, joked: “Some people say these days that ‘you’re indicted if you breathe’.”
Yoon’s arrest Wednesday ended a weeks-long standoff with authorities after police stormed his fortified hillside villa in Seoul before dawn, much to the dismay of supporters at the scene.
Yoon said he went for questioning by corruption investigation officers to avoid what he called the risk of “unsavory bloodshed”, while continuing to protest against the fact that it was an illegal investigation and an invalid arrest warrant.
THE COURT WILL REVIEW THE ARREST WARRANT
The embattled leader has so far refused to speak with investigators who prepared a questionnaire of more than 200 pages, said an official at the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which runs the criminal investigation.
His questioning was scheduled to resume at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Thursday, but the IOC said it had been informed by Yoon’s side that he would not be present.
Yonhap cited Yoon Kab-keun, one of Yoon’s lawyers, who said the suspended president’s health was a factor and further questioning was unnecessary, without elaborating.
A small crowd of protesters supporting Yoon gathered and sat on a road outside the IOC office, calling the president’s arrest illegitimate.
His lawyers said the arrest warrant was illegal because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team investigating him had no legal mandate to do so.
They also asked another court to review the legality of the arrest. Yoon’s 48-hour arrest period is temporarily suspended while the judicial review is underway, according to the IOC.
His legal team has denied allegations against Yoon that he fomented insurrection, a crime in South Korea punishable by life imprisonment or even technically the death penalty.
The last executions in South Korea took place in 1997, for criminal offenses such as murder.
The political crisis has reverberated through Asia’s fourth-largest economy and increased pressure on the won currency.
South Korea’s central bank governor said Thursday that the most important factor determining the health of the economy in the coming months is the stabilization of political chaos.
“That’s why a normalization of the political process is much more important than cutting interest rates a month earlier or later,” Rhee Chang-yong said, speaking after the Bank of Korea maintained unexpectedly its key interest rates at 3.00% on Thursday, thus defying the situation. analysts’ expectations for a rate cut.
