The impeached former president has refused to be questioned three times since his botched emergency decree on December 3.
South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has announced that it has obtained an extension of the court’s arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol.
The Office of Corruption Investigations for Senior Officials (CIO) did not immediately confirm on Tuesday how long the order would remain in place. After a previous attempt After the Presidential Security Service prevented Yoon’s arrest last week, investigators filed a request to extend the warrant, which was set to expire on Monday.
The Seoul Western District Court initially issued an arrest warrant for Yoon and a special search warrant for his residence after he defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning under the Dec. 3 state of emergency decree.
Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and auxiliary police tried to arrest Yoon on Friday, but withdrew from his Seoul residence after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours.
In the meantime, the deadlock persisted. Many of Yoon’s supporters camped outside the presidential residence despite the cold weather.
On Monday, MPs from his People’s Power Party appeared outside his residence and police, blocking roads.
However, investigators have not yet attempted to re-arrest the impeached head of state.
‘Sincere apologies’
IT chief Oh Dong-woon apologized Tuesday for the failed first arrest attempt, saying he was “heartbroken.”
“I must sincerely apologize to the public for the non-execution of the arrest warrant due to the security measures taken by the Presidential Security Service,” he told lawmakers in the National Assembly.
The CIO was founded less than four years ago and has less than 100 employees who have yet to prosecute a single case.
Yoon is being investigated on charges of “sedition” and, if formally arrested and convicted, faces prison terms or even the death penalty. His failed martial law decree pushed South Korea into its own the worst political crisis in decades.
He would also become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested. His lawyers have repeatedly said the original order was “unlawful” and “unlawful”, vowing to take further legal action against him.
They argued that the CIO had no powers to investigate because sedition was not included in the list of offenses it could investigate.
