President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was arrested on charges of being the ringleader of an insurrection, has failed to attend questioning by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). The CIO plans to notify President Yoon to appear again.
The CIO stated in a press release on the 19th, "The suspect did not attend the questioning scheduled for 2 p.m. today." The CIO is expected to notify President Yoon of a '10 a.m. appearance on the 20th' later that day.
Earlier that day, the CIO held a press briefing and remarked that should President Yoon continue to refuse to appear for questioning, the matter of forcible enforcement (forced abduction) would need to be reviewed, noting, "There are no legal provisions for this, and it is only acknowledged in case law, so it is a matter we need to consider."
Yoon's defense attorney, Yoon Gap-geun, stated in a media release around 1 p.m. that "(appearance at the CIO investigation) is difficult." He also mentioned, "The CIO has nothing more to say." It has been reported that Attorney Yoon met with President Yoon, who is detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, that day.
President Yoon is reportedly in a position of finding it hard to understand, as a legal professional, the CIO's classification of his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 and subsequent actions as having "caused a riot for the purpose of undermining the Constitution."
Chief Judge Cha Eun-kyung of the Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant for President Yoon around 2:50 a.m., citing concerns that the suspect might destroy evidence. This marks the first case in constitutional history of a sitting president being arrested. Consequently, President Yoon has been formally detained at the Seoul Detention Center, where he had been since his arrest on the 15th. The detention period is 20 days. There has been prior agreement that the CIO will investigate President Yoon for 10 days, after which the prosecution will conduct further questioning for the remaining 10 days.
The defense team finds it difficult to accept the court's decision on issuing the warrant and is considering their course of action, including filing for a substantive review of the detention. That day, the defense team released a statement titled, "On this day, we wail aloud," saying, "A dubious arrest warrant has been issued." They also stated, "The court must have provided excuses for this."
In response to President Yoon's team's actions, the CIO expressed, "We strongly regret the replacement of efforts to resolve matters within the judicial system with a statement that denies the rule of law," adding, "If you cannot accept the issuance of the warrant, you should follow the appeal or remedy procedures as defined by the judicial system."