South Korea: Special counsel team begins executing detention warrant for ex-President Yoon

Seoul, Aug. 1 (IANS) A special counsel team arrived at a prison Friday to execute a detention warrant for jailed former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol after he repeatedly snubbed summonses.

Assistant special counsel Moon Hong-ju was joined by a prosecutor and an investigator from special counsel Min Joong-ki's team as he entered Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, where Yoon has been held since last month.

The team attempted to bring Yoon out of his cell and take him for questioning over allegations that he and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, meddled in candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

The detention warrant was issued by a court Thursday after the former president twice defied the special counsel's summons earlier this week, citing health problems, Yonhap news agency reported.

Yoon's lawyers said they delivered his medical records and a doctor's note to the detention center Thursday. He has been struggling to regulate his body temperature and could go blind if his eye ailment is untreated, they said.

This is the second time a detention warrant has been executed for Yoon.

In January, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials detained Yoon at the official presidential residence under a court-issued warrant and took him to the same detention center where he was held until his surprise release in March.

At the time, he was arrested on charges of leading an insurrection through his brief attempt to impose martial law in December.

His second arrest last month was on additional charges related to the martial law bid.

Even if Yoon is forcibly brought to the interrogation room, there is skepticism he will comply with the questioning.

He and his wife are suspected of receiving free opinion polls from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the 2022 presidential election in exchange for securing the nomination of former People Power Party Rep. Kim Young-sun for a parliamentary by-election later that year.

Min's team is also looking into whether Yoon violated the election law by making false statements about his wife's suspected involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme during the presidential primaries in 2021.

The team has been tasked with investigating 19 criminal allegations against the former first lady.

--IANS

int/bpd/