CONCERN YOON MAY DESTROY EVIDENCE
With Yoon refusing to be questioned, investigators facing a deadline on detaining the impeached president asked the court on Friday to extend his custody.
After a five-hour hearing on Saturday, which Yoon attended, a judge granted a new warrant extending Yoon’s detention for up to 20 days, due to “concern that the suspect may destroy evidence”.
South Korean regulations require a suspect detained under a warrant to undergo a physical exam, have a mugshot taken and wear a prison uniform.
The leader is being held in a solitary cell at the Seoul Detention Centre.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is leading the probe, said it had called Yoon in for further questioning on Sunday afternoon but the prosecutor-turned-president again did not show up.
The CIO said it would ask Yoon to come in for questioning on Monday, and forbade anyone from visiting him at the detention centre apart from his lawyers.
His lawyers have argued the arrest is illegal because the warrant was issued in the wrong jurisdiction and the investigating team had no mandate for their probe.
Insurrection, the crime that Yoon may be charged with, is one of the few that a South Korean president does not have immunity from and is technically punishable by death. South Korea, however, has not executed anyone in nearly 30 years.
Yoon said through his lawyers he found the violent incident at court “shocking and unfortunate”, calling on people to express their opinions peacefully.
“The president said … he wouldn’t give up and would correct the wrong, even if it took time,” the lawyers said in a statement. Saying he understands many are feeling “rage and unfairness”, Yoon asked police to take a “tolerant position”.
Separate to the criminal probe that sparked Sunday’s chaos, the Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to permanently remove him from office, in line with parliament’s Dec 14 impeachment, or restore his presidential powers.
However, about a thousand supporters marched toward the constitutional court later on Sunday and police arrested three of them, one of whom attempted to scale the court’s wall, local media said.
