BREAKBREAK,
Joint Investigation Unit seeks arrest warrant against suspended president for briefly declaring martial law.
South Korean authorities have requested an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol over his short-lived declaration of martial law.
South Korea’s Joint Investigation Headquarters said Monday that it had sought Yoon’s arrest on charges of insurrection and abuse of power after the accused leader ignored three summons for questioning.
A court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant following the South Korean leader’s request for detention.
Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law on December 3 stunned South Korea and plunged the East Asian country into its biggest political crisis in decades.
Yoon has been suspended from his duties since December 14, when he was elected to the National Assembly voted for his impeachment with 204 votes to 85.
The conservative leader, who was the country’s top prosecutor before entering politics, is charged with insurrection, which carries a penalty of life in prison or the death penalty.
The country’s leadership crisis deepened on Friday after the opposition-controlled legislature voted to also impeach incumbent President Han Duck-soo after he refused to immediately appoint three judges to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court, which is deliberating whether Yoon’s impeachment should be upheld.
The court has up to six months to make its decision. Afterwards, Yoon will either be removed from office or returned to the presidency.
At its first preparatory hearing on Friday, the court rejected a request from Yoon’s lawyers to postpone the trial so the South Korean leader could better prepare his case.
