SEOUL, South Korea — On Monday, law enforcement authorities in South Korea applied for a court warrant aimed at detaining the impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol amid an investigation concerning his brief declaration of martial law on December 3, which could be considered an act of rebellion.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, collaborating with police and military entities, confirmed their request for the warrant from the Seoul Western District Court. The agency intends to interrogate Yoon on accusations of abuse of power and orchestrating a rebellion.

Yoon Kap-keun, serving as the president’s legal representative, condemned the effort to detain Yoon and has filed a formal objection with the same court, asserting that the warrant request lacks validity. He argued that the anti-corruption office does not possess the legal jurisdiction to pursue charges of rebellion. However, he did not disclose how the legal team plans to handle the situation should the court approve the detention warrant.

“An incumbent president cannot be prosecuted for abuse of power,” commented the lawyer. “Although there exist various academic perspectives regarding the investigation of a president for such acts, it is generally accepted that if such investigations do take place, they must be conducted with extreme caution.”

The anti-corruption office has yet to respond to these remarks from the president’s legal counsel.
Han Min-soo, spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Party, urged the court to grant the warrant, emphasizing that Yoon’s detention would be an essential step toward “curtailing the rebellion and reinstating order.”

This warrant request followed Yoon’s evasion of multiple summons from the joint investigative team and public prosecutors who sought his appearance for inquiries. Additionally, he has obstructed searches of his official offices.

Although the president holds the privilege of immunity from criminal prosecution, that protection does not cover allegations involving rebellion or treason.

The likelihood of the court granting the warrant remains uncertain, as does whether Yoon can be compelled to attend questioning. Current laws specify that locations associated with military secrets cannot be searched without permission from the responsible individual, leading to doubts about whether Yoon would willingly leave his residence in the event of a detention. There are also apprehensions regarding potential confrontations with Yoon’s presidential security team should authorities attempt to take him into custody forcefully.

The National Assembly suspended Yoon’s presidential duties after voting for his impeachment on December 14, following his brief imposition of martial law that lasted just a few hours, leading to political unrest, halted high-profile diplomatic engagements, and destabilizing financial markets.

Yoon’s future is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which has begun evaluating whether to uphold the impeachment and officially remove him or to reinstate his presidency.

Last week, the National Assembly also voted to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had stepped in as acting president following Yoon’s suspension of powers. This was due to Han’s delay in appointing justices to fill three vacancies on the Constitutional Court ahead of its review of Yoon’s case. The newly appointed interim leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is also the finance minister, has yet to declare his intentions regarding these appointments.

To officially conclude Yoon’s presidency, at least six of the nine Constitutional Court justices must vote in favor, and three positions are unoccupied following retirements. Filling these seats could expedite the decision-making process regarding Yoon’s impeachment.

Choi has been managing the government’s response to a tragic plane crash that took the lives of 179 individuals, and has not yet indicated whether he will move to appoint the remaining justices of the Constitutional Court.

In a separate ongoing investigation into Yoon, officials have already arrested his defense minister, police chief, and several military commanders implicated in the enforcement of the martial law declaration, which evokes memories of past authoritarian regimes not seen since the 1980s.

The authority to investigate rebellion charges primarily resides with police following a reform in 2021 that amended investigative powers among various law enforcement organizations, removing rebellion from the anti-corruption agency’s prosecutorial ambit. Nevertheless, the agencies have continued to look into the accusations against Yoon tied to abuse of power, a category of crime within their jurisdiction.

Yoon and his military leaders have been accused of hindering the National Assembly’s vote to lift martial law by deploying extensive armed forces to surround the assembly building. Nonetheless, legislators managed to enter and voted unanimously (190-0) to revoke martial law just hours after Yoon initially proclaimed it during a late-night televised address.

Yoon has also faced accusations of ordering defense counterintelligence officials to detain significant political figures, including opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik, and his former party leader Han Dong-hun, a reformer involved in investigations concerning alleged corruption involving first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Yoon has maintained that his martial law decree was a necessary governance measure, framing it as a temporary response to what he perceives as the liberal opposition Democratic Party’s obstructionist tactics amidst their majority in the National Assembly. He insists he did not aim to disrupt the assembly’s functionality, arguing that the military presence was to ensure order, and he denied intentions to detain lawmakers.

These assertions have been countered by Kwak Jong-keun, the commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, who claimed in the National Assembly that Yoon called for troops to “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside” the assembly’s main chamber. Kwak stated he did not execute Yoon’s orders.

The joint investigative team has also questioned Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho, chief of the Defense Intelligence Command, who has been detained amid suspicions that he dispatched troops to the National Election Commission in Gwacheon following Yoon’s declaration of martial law.

Yoon has justified the deployment of troops to the election commission at the same time as the military action directed at the National Assembly, citing concerns about potential vulnerabilities in the commission’s computer systems that could compromise the electoral integrity.

However, Yoon’s inability to provide supporting evidence for his claims has sparked concern that he is promoting unfounded conspiracy theories propagated by right-wing YouTube channels regarding the supposed rigging of the April parliamentary elections, which the Democratic Party won decisively. The election commission has explicitly rejected Yoon’s claims, affirming there is no basis for allegations of electoral fraud.