South Korean President Yoon will attend the court hearing on the extension of detention, writes Reuters
SEOUL (Reuters) – Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea’s impeached president, plans to attend a court hearing on Saturday to oppose a request by investigators to extend his detention on sedition charges, his lawyer said.
On Wednesday, Yoon became the country’s first sitting president to be arrested, in a criminal investigation related to his short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.
Investigators on Friday requested a detention order to extend Yoon’s detention for up to 20 days. He refused to talk to investigators and has been in a detention center in Seoul since his arrest.
Police were seen breaking up a crowd of Yoon’s supporters who had blocked the gates of the Western District Court in Seoul, where the hearing is expected to begin at 2:00 pm (05:00 GMT). A decision is expected on Saturday or Sunday.
“He decided to attend … to restore his honor by directly explaining the legitimacy of martial law and that a rebellion had not been established,” Yoon’s lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, said in a statement.
Insurrection, the crime charged against Yoon by the Office of Corruption Investigation for Senior Officials, is one of the few from which the current South Korean president is not immune.
Detention warrant hearings usually last about two hours in South Korea, but can last eight to ten hours if the argument gets heated.
