Lawyers representing South Korea’s impeached president said he will refuse further questioning after being detained by anti-corruption officials over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, maintaining that the investigation is illegal.
President Yoon Suk Yeol exercised his right to remain silent as he underwent more than 10 hours of questioning on Wednesday at the headquarters of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, following a massive law enforcement operation to detain him at his official residence in Seoul.
Investigators are expected to move to place him under arrest in the coming days.
The anti-corruption agency, which is leading a joint investigation with the police and the military over whether Mr Yoon’s martial law declaration amounted to attempted rebellion, has 48 hours either to request a court order for his formal arrest or to release him.
The clock for the arrest warrant is on hold while the court reviews his petition, which can take up to 48 hours.
There is a possibility that Mr Yoon could attend a hearing at the Central District Court as part of the review.
Court records showed that the hearing was set for 5pm on Thursday, indicating that the decision could come sometime during the evening.
Mr Yoon set off the country’s most serious political crisis since its democratisation in the late 1980s when he attempted to break through the gridlock in legislation by declaring martial law and deploying troops around the National Assembly on December 3.
The standoff lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and voted to lift the measure.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on December 14, accusing him of rebellion.
His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Mr Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.
Mr Yoon and his allies have defied efforts to investigate his role in the chaos of December 3.
He ignored requests to appear for questioning for weeks, remaining in his official residence to avoid detention as his lawyers turned away police, citing a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge — Mr Yoon himself.
They also said that the anti-corruption agency had no legal authority to investigate rebellion allegations.
He was finally brought into custody after hundreds of anti-corruption investigators and police raided the presidential compound for some five hours in a second attempt.
In a video message recorded shortly before he was escorted to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, Mr Yoon lamented that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country”.
He echoed the arguments of his lawyers that the anti-corruption agency does not have the authority to investigate his actions but said he accepted detention to prevent violence.
Following Mr Yoon’s questioning on Wednesday, his lawyers requested the Constitutional Court to delay a hearing scheduled for Thursday, citing the complications created by his detention.
It remains possible for Mr Yoon to exercise his right to attend, even while under detention.
If a court grants a warrant for Mr Yoon’s formal arrest, the anti-corruption investigators can extend his detention to 20 days, during which it will transfer the case to public prosecutors for an indictment.
If prosecutors indict Mr Yoon on the possible charges of rebellion and abuse of power, he could remain under arrest until the first court ruling, which is typically made within six months, said Park Sung-bae, an attorney specialising in criminal law.
Under South Korean law, the leader of a rebellion can face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted.
