S. Korea’s Yoon will skip questioning, lawyer says
SEOUL—South Korea’s arrested President Yoon Suk-yeol does not intend to take part in a second day of questioning on Thursday, his lawyer said, further stonewalling a criminal probe into whether he committed insurrection with his martial law bid.
Yoon, the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested, was taken to the Seoul Detention Center on Wednesday evening after refusing to cooperate, where he was expected to have spent the night in a solitary cell.
Weekslong standoff
Authorities have 48 hours to question the suspended president, after which they must release him or seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
Yoon’s refusal to cooperate with investigators comes as the Constitutional Court is due to hold a second hearing in his impeachment trial to determine whether to remove him permanently or reinstate his presidential powers.
South Korea is grappling with its worst political crisis in decades, sparked by Yoon’s brief attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3 that was voted down by parliament.
Yoon’s arrest on Wednesday ended a weekslong standoff with authorities after police swooped before dawn on his fortified hillside villa in Seoul to the despair of followers at the site.
200 pages of questionnaire
Yoon said he turned himself in for questioning by corruption investigation officials to prevent what he called the risk of “unsavory bloodshed,” though he continued to protest that it was an illegal investigation and invalid arrest warrant.
Yoon has up to now refused to talk with investigators who had prepared a questionnaire of more than 200 pages, an official from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) that is heading the criminal inquiry said on Wednesday.
The embattled leader did not even reply to a question, a CIO official said.
His questioning is due to resume at 2 p.m. (0500 GMT) on Thursday afternoon, according to CIO.
But Yoon Kab-keun, one of Yoon’s lawyers, said in a text message to reporters that Yoon would not show up for the questioning.
Yonhap reported the same lawyer as citing Yoon’s health as a factor and saying further questioning was pointless, without elaborating.
