The South Korean anti-corruption agency has asked the police to take over the execution of a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, both sides said
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) made the request in an official letter late Sunday with one day left until the warrant’s expiry, Yonhap news agency reported.
“The CIO sent us an official letter requesting our cooperation without prior consultations,” a police official told Yonhap News Agency. “We are internally carrying out a legal review.”
The CIO halted its execution of the warrant last Friday after an hourslong standoff with presidential security staff at the presidential residence.
The agency has been working with the police and the defense ministry’s investigation unit to conduct a joint probe into Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3.
With the warrant set to expire at midnight, the CIO had been expected to make a second attempt at detaining Yoon or request its extension, among other options.
Sources said the CIO’s letter was prompting complaints within the police that the agency was trying to shift its responsibilities after passively executing the warrant last Friday.
Yoon’s legal team has rejected the warrant as illegal and invalid, noting the CIO is not technically authorised to investigate charges of insurrection that Yoon faces over his martial law decree.
Earlier on Sunday a Seoul court dismissed the injunction filed by President Yoon that sought to invalidate the court warrants to detain him and search the Presidential residence, court officials said.
The Seoul Western District Court made the decision days after Yoon’s legal defence team lodged the objection to suspend the effect of the warrants that they called “illegal.”
Yoon’s legal team said they would consider appealing the ruling.
“We will consider whether to file an appeal with the Supreme Court,” Yun Gap-geun, Yoon’s lawyer, said. “The dismissal does not mean that the warrants are legally valid.”
The same court approved the warrant to detain Yoon for questioning over his role in the failed December 3 martial law bid. It also issued a warrant to search the presidential residence compound in central Seoul.
