A Seoul court has issued an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Seok-yul for attempting to impose martial law. He is suspected of conspiracy, falsifying documents and attempting to destroy the constitutional order.
The Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for former South Korean President Yoon Seok-yul on Thursday, July 10. He is suspected of attempting to illegally impose martial law last December, marking the second time Yoon has been taken into custody.
This was reported by Yonhap.
Judge Nam Se-jin granted the motion by special prosecutor Cho In-suk, citing the risk of destruction of evidence by the suspect. The former president was immediately taken to a detention center in Iiwang, south of Seoul.
Prosecutors have filed five key charges. Specifically, Yoon is suspected of attempting to assemble an incomplete government on December 3, the day it made a failed move to impose martial law. He is also accused of creating a false document that was supposedly intended to legitimize his actions. That document, according to investigators, was signed by then-Prime Minister Han Duk-soo and Defense Minister Kim Aung-hyun but later revoked.
Other charges relate to instructions Yun allegedly gave to his subordinates, including to spread disinformation in foreign media, obstruct his detention by security services in early January and destroy mobile phones used by military commanders.
At the hearing, Yun and his lawyers denied all charges.
Yun was first arrested in January, when he was still president. The court later lifted the arrest and he was released in March. But now the case has been reopened with new evidence that could spark a high-profile trial against the former leader.
