Impeached South Korea’s President, Yoon Suk Yeol has failed to appear before the country’s corruption watchdog after he was summoned for questioning over his martial law bid.
New Telegraph recalls that Yeol was stripped of his duties by parliament on Saturday, December 14, following his December 3 martial law declaration, which plunged the country into its worst political turmoil in decades.
The investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) had summoned him to their facility in suburban Seoul at 10:00 am (0100 GMT) for questioning over charges of insurrection and abuse of power.
The CIO said that the summons was sent to Yoon but returned undelivered after an unidentified person at the presidential office refused to accept it.
“Yoon’s no-show on Wednesday will be considered as a failure to comply with the first summons.” a CIO statement said.
According to Yonhap news agency, the president’s legal team on Tuesday said he did not commit insurrection and has vowed to fight the charge in court.
“While we do not consider the insurrection charges to be legally valid, we will comply with the investigation,” Seok Dong-hyeon of Yeolteam was quoted as saying.
Investigators said they were considering despatching a second summons, but CIO chief Oh Dong-woon told parliament on Tuesday they were also reviewing whether to issue an arrest warrant.
