Seoul court issues warrant to arrest ex-president Yoon over martial law bid

A court in South Korea issued a warrant on Thursday to arrest former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed bid to impose martial law in the country, placing him in custody for the second time. The Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant hours after holding a hearing to review the arrest warrant requested by special counsel Cho Eun-suk. Cho’s team sought the arrest warrant on five charges, including Yoon’s alleged violation of the rights of Cabinet members by calling only a select few to a meeting held shortly before he declared martial law on Dec. 3.
Yoon and his lawyers attended the hearing and rejected all charges before the former president was taken to Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, just south of the capital, to await the court’s decision.

Nam Se-jin, a senior judge at Seoul’s Central District Court, issued the warrant, citing concerns that Yoon could destroy evidence, the Yonhap news agency said.

The former president is also accused of creating a false martial law declaration document after Dec. 3 to add legitimacy to his actions and getting it signed by then prime minister Han Duck-soo and then defence minister Kim Yong-hyun before discarding it.

The other charges involve his alleged instruction to the presidential spokesperson for foreign press to distribute false statements denying his intent to destroy the constitutional order through the martial law attempt, his alleged instruction to the Presidential Security Service to block his detention by investigators in early January and his alleged order to delete call records from secure phones used by three military commanders.

This is the second time Yoon has been arrested.

The first time was in January when he was still in office, but a court later accepted his request to cancel his arrest, allowing his release in March.