Investigators want to extend Yoon’s detention

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Lerato Khumalo

National crisis in South Korea

Investigators want to extend Yoon’s detention

Updated on January 17, 2025 – 2:56 p.mReading time: 1 min.

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Yoon Suk Yeol continues to refuse to testify at the Corruption Investigation Agency for Senior Officials. (Source: Uncredited/Korea Pool/AP/dpa/dpa-bilder)

Several attempts to arrest the suspended South Korean president had failed. On Wednesday the time had come. Now Yoon could remain in custody for significantly longer.

Investigators from the Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) have requested a formal arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol. As South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap reported, this could result in Yoon being held in custody for up to 20 days. A district court in Seoul is scheduled to consider the matter on Saturday.

After Wednesday’s arrest, investigators had 48 hours to question Yoon. The deadline expired on Friday. So far, Yoon has refused to testify.

The CIO investigators are currently checking whether Yoon was guilty of trying to incite a riot when martial law was briefly declared at the beginning of December. Another penalty against the 64-year-old is abuse of office.

The suspended president believes the investigations against him are illegal. Through his lawyer, he wrote a letter to his supporters on Friday evening (local time) saying that he thanked the people for their “passionate patriotism”.

Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested in the capital Seoul on Wednesday morning. The background is that Yoon briefly imposed martial law on South Korea at the beginning of December as a result of a budget dispute with the opposition – which caused outrage at home and abroad.

In addition to the investigation into sedition and abuse of power by the CIO, impeachment proceedings against Yoon are also underway at the Constitutional Court.