What you need to know about the attempt to arrest South Korea’s Yoon

SEOUL – Lawyers for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Corruption Investigation Office for Senior Officials (CIO), which is investigating his brief martial law decree on December 3, are at odds over whether the CIO has the authority to arrest and prosecute. criminal charges against him.

Here’s what we know so far:

WHO ARE THE RESEARCHERS?

The CIO is leading a joint investigation team involving the police and the Defense Ministry seeking charges of insurrection and abuse of power against Yoon, among others, while prosecutors conduct their own investigation.

The CIO was created in January 2021 as an independent anti-corruption agency to investigate high-ranking officials, including the president, and their relatives as part of efforts to keep prosecutors in check.

But your rights of investigation and processing are limited. He has no authority to prosecute the president and is obliged to refer the case to the prosecution for any action, including indictment, once the interrogation is completed.

WHAT IS YOON’S ARGUMENT?

Yoon’s lawyers have said the CIO does not have the authority to handle his case since the law stipulates a broad list of high-ranking officials and violations it can investigate, but does not mention any insurrection.

The lawyers also said that an arrest warrant granted by a Seoul district court was unconstitutional because it specified that the warrant was exempt from two clauses of the Criminal Procedure Law that limit seizure and search of a place subject to confidential military information. or to a public official. possess official secrets, without legal basis.

Yoon’s team filed a complaint and injunction with the Constitutional Court to review the legitimacy of the order, although the Seoul Western District Court that issued the order rejected a similar complaint on Sunday.

On Friday, presidential security and military guards prevented CIO investigators from arresting Yoon in a six-hour standoff. Security service chief Park Chong-jun said on Sunday that the security service could not cooperate with the order, citing the legal debate over the CIO’s investigative rights and the validity of the order.

WHAT IS THE POSITION OF THE CIO, POLICE?

The CIO has said it has secured the right to take up Yoon’s case by obtaining the arrest warrant, and the two clauses of the Criminal Procedure Law do not apply because the warrant was limited to arresting him, not confiscating his possessions.

But the agency said Monday that it had asked police to take over the execution of the order, based on its belief that “a case as serious as this should not leave even the slightest possibility of controversy.”

A police officer acknowledged that there was a legal dispute over such a transfer and that police officers would discuss it with the CIO.

Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon, said the attempt to transfer execution of the order is effectively an admission by the CIO that its investigation and the order were “illegal.”

WHAT DO THE COURTS SAY?

The Constitutional Court said Thursday it will begin reviewing the complaint and injunction filed by Yoon’s lawyers as soon as a judge is assigned.

The Seoul Western District Court, dismissing a similar complaint on Sunday, said it was not illegal for the CIO to handle Yoon’s case since the insurrection allegations are included in the abuse of power charges covered by the agency.

He also said that the order’s exemption from two clauses of the Criminal Procedure Act appears to confirm that any search it might involve was intended to arrest the defendant, not confiscate his belongings, and that it was not unconstitutional for a judge to specify that when approving an order.

Yoon’s lawyers criticized the court’s statement as “sophistry” and said they will consider appealing the decision to a higher court. REUTERS

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