On the morning of the 28th local time, former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived at the Special Investigation Division set up in Seoul’s Higher Prosecutors’ Office to undergo investigation. This marks Yoon Suk-yeol’s first appearance for an inquiry since the establishment of the Special Investigation Division following the emergency martial law incident.
Yoon Suk-yeol has repeatedly been summoned by authorities, yet consistently resisted the investigation. Following the emergency martial law incident, the South Korean Public Integrity Investigation Agency and the police have repeatedly summoned Yoon Suk-yeol for investigations, but he has consistently resisted these efforts. After the Special Investigation Division took over the investigation, on the 24th of this month, they applied to the court for his arrest. Subsequently, Yoon Suk-yeol stated he would accept the investigation by the Special Investigation Division. On the 25th, the South Korean court dismissed the Special Investigation Division’s arrest warrant based on Yoon Suk-yeol’s statement of acceptance of the investigation. The Special Investigation Division then requested that Yoon Suk-yeol appear before them on the 28th for further investigation.
On the 23rd, Yoon Suk-yeol attended the eighth trial of the case involving the alleged outbreak of internal unrest at the Central District Court in Seoul. This marked the first time since the “Internal Unrest Special Investigation Act” was passed and the special prosecutorial team officially took over the case that the Special Investigation Division appeared as the prosecution in a trial.
The South Korean Public Integrity Investigation Agency had arrested Yoon Suk-yeol on January 15th of this year. Following this, the investigative authority further applied for his detention, which was approved by the court. However, Yoon Suk-yeol subsequently filed an application with the court, arguing that his detention was illegal and requested the court to cancel it. On March 7th of this year, the South Korean court approved Yoon Suk-yeol’s request for the cancellation of his detention, and he was released on March 8th. The Constitutional Court of South Korea announced on April 4th that Yoon Suk-yeol had been impeached and removed from office, leading to an early general election held on June 3rd. (Reporter: Tang Xin)