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Free Malaysia Today
10-07-2025
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
South Korea court to hold July 9 hearing on ex-leader Yoon's detention warrant
Yoon Suk Yeol was taken into custody but released from jail after 52 days on technical grounds. (AP pic) SEOUL : A Seoul court plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday to review a request by special prosecutors to detain former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a court official said on Monday. The special counsel team investigating Yoon's martial law declaration in December has filed a request to the Seoul Central District Court to detain Yoon on allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Yoon has been accused of mobilising presidential guards to stop authorities from arresting him in January. He eventually was taken into custody but released from jail after 52 days on technical grounds. The special prosecution that kicked off its investigation after new leader Lee Jae Myung was elected in June has been looking into additional charges against Yoon, who is already on trial for insurrection related to his short-lived martial law. The detention warrant request was made on the grounds of the risk of him being a flight risk and concerns that he might interfere with witnesses linked to his case, local media reported, citing a special prosecutor' request. Yoon's lawyers have rejected the allegations against him.
Japan Times
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
South Korea investigators seek to arrest former president Yoon again
A Seoul court plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday to review a request by special prosecutors to detain former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a court official said on Monday. The special counsel team investigating Yoon's martial law declaration in December has filed a request to the Seoul Central District Court to detain Yoon on allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. The special prosecution that kicked off its investigation after new leader Lee Jae Myung was elected in June has been looking into additional charges against Yoon, who is already on trial for insurrection related to his short-lived martial law. The detention warrant request was made on the grounds of him being a flight risk and concerns that he might interfere with witnesses linked to his case, local media reported, citing a special prosecutors' request. South Korean special prosecutors filed the new request on Sunday, one day after he appeared before them for questioning over his declaration of martial law last year. Yoon was arrested in January after resisting authorities trying to take him into custody, but he was released after 52 days on technical grounds. "Detention request is related to allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice," the special prosecutors investigating the declaration said in a statement. The spokesperson for the special prosecutors declined to elaborate when asked why the detention request was submitted, saying they would explain it in court proceedings to decide on whether it should be granted. Yoon's lawyers said in a statement that the special prosecutors had not provided credible evidence for the charges they were seeking, and his legal team would "explain in court that the request for an arrest warrant is unreasonable." The former prime minister has been accused of mobilizing presidential guards to stop authorities from arresting him in January, but the court has previously dismissed the request for an arrest warrant after Yoon had initially refused to appear for questioning. Yoon was ousted in April by the Constitutional Court, which upheld his impeachment by parliament for a martial law bid that shocked a country that had prided itself on becoming a thriving democracy after overcoming military dictatorship in the 1980s. The Dec. 3 decree had been lifted after about six hours when lawmakers, who had been forced to scale the walls of the assembly building to make it through a ring of security forces, voted the decree down. The former president is fighting the charges against him that include masterminding insurrection, which is punishable by death or life in prison. He rejects the allegations. The special prosecutor was appointed just days after Lee took office on June 4, following his victory in a snap election called after Yoon's ouster, and leads a team of more than 200 lawyers and investigators.
South China Morning Post
03-07-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Did South Korea's Yoon Suk-yeol order drone missions into Pyongyang to justify martial law?
A secret recording suggesting South Korea 's former president Yoon Suk-yeol may have ordered drone missions over Pyongyang in a bid to trigger a North Korean military response is now at the centre of the investigation into his December martial law debacle Advertisement Special prosecutors probing Yoon for insurrection and foreign aggression incitement believe the audio files could amount to a 'smoking gun' – offering evidence he sought to manufacture a crisis to legitimise extending his presidency, observers said. 'Yoon now faces allegations that, instead of fulfilling his duty to protect the people as commander-in-chief, he jeopardised their safety in an unlawful attempt to extend his rule,' Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies, told This Week in Asia. The former leader declared martial law on December 3, citing unspecified threats from North Korea and 'anti-state forces' threatening democracy, as well as a legislative deadlock caused by opposition control of the National Assembly. 'If the North had responded militarily, it could have sparked armed conflict along the border – and potentially escalated into an all-out war,' Yang said. Former president Yoon Suk-yeol arrives for questioning over charges related to the December 3 martial law imposition at the special prosecutor's office in Seoul on June 28. Photo: EPA According to reports from both the conservative Dong-A Ilbo and the progressive Kyunghyang Shinmun newspaper, special prosecutors investigating Yoon on insurrection charges have secured a recording of military officers quoting Drone Operations Commander Kim Yong-dae as saying that the drone missions were ordered by 'V' – believed to be shorthand for the former president.
