Over the weekend, parliament stripped President Yoon Suk Yeol of his duties after his brief declaration of martial law on December 3 sent the country into the most political turmoil of decades.
Seoul: It has been stated that Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol skipped Wednesday’s corruption watchdog meeting as he was called to clarify the martial law he introduced.
Yoon was stripped of his duties by parliament over the weekend after his short-lived December 3 martial law declaration plunged the country into its worst political turmoil in decades.
Investigations 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.
“President Yoon did not appear for his summons today,” a CIO official told AFP. Yoon’s legal team said that he did not commit an insurrection on Tuesday and has vowed to fight the charge in court, according to Yonhap’s news agency.
Seok Hyeon of Yoon’s team was quoted as saying, ” While we do not consider the insurrection charges to be legally valid, we will comply with the investigation.”
The CIO said this week that a summons was sent to Yoon but returned “undelivered” after an unidentified person at the presidential office refused to accept it.
A CIO statement said Yoon’s no-show on Wednesday “will be considered a failure to comply with the first summons.”
Investigators said they were mulling despatching a second summons, but CIO chief Oh Dong-woon told parliament Tuesday they were also “reviewing” whether to issue an arrest warrant.
South Korean prosecutors and a joint team of police, defense ministry, and anti-corruption investigators are investigating Yoon.
