The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials' headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap)
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials' headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province (Yonhap)

Police attempt to raid safe house, PSS office to secure footage of who Yoon met with before, after martial law declaration

GWACHEON, Gyeonggi Province -- The lead agency of the joint investigation team probing President Yoon Suk Yeol attempted to forcibly bring him in for questioning Monday afternoon, as he has refused to comply with an investigation on charges of insurrection and abuse of power, despite being detained. The team suspended the efforts at around 9 p.m. as Yoon continued to refuse.

Since Yoon was taken into custody by the joint probe team on Wednesday, Yoon has refused to appear for questioning four consecutive times, except for the interrogation on the first day of his arrest, during which he remained silent.

“The CIO feels it is necessary to conduct the face-to-face investigation,” a CIO official who declined to be named told reporters in a press briefing earlier in the day at its headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.

“The agency leaves the door open to possible questioning at the detention center, but a forced summons is a measure that is being strongly considered by the agency,” the official said, citing that the Supreme Court in 2013 authorized a forced summons for a suspect who refused to appear for questioning after being formally arrested.

Amid an ongoing standoff between the CIO and the president, the Korean National Police Agency's National Office of Investigation, part of the joint investigative team, attempted to execute a search and seizure warrant to obtain video footage from surveillance cameras at a safe house in Samcheong-dong, as well as the Presidential Security Service's office at the presidential complex in Yongsan, both in Seoul.

However, the police withdrew their forces as the PSS stated that the warrant violated articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which bans any seizure and search attempts in a place where secret military matters are held -- including the presidential residence -- without the permission of the authority in charge.

The police requested that the PSS voluntarily submit the martial-law related files for the investigation.

Police plan to examine security footage to identify who entered and exited the safe house before and after last month's martial law declaration, and to determine what instructions were given by Yoon.

On Dec. 3, 2024, Korean National Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho and Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Kim Bong-sik met with Yoon at the safe house three hours before the martial law declaration, where they allegedly received documents related to martial law instructions.

Additionally, on the day martial law was lifted, Dec. 4, four individuals — Justice Minister Park Seong-jae, Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs Kim Joo-hyun, Chief of the Legislation Ministry Lee Wan-gyu and former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min — are purported to have held a meeting with Yoon.

Meanwhile, the prosecution is likely to indict the president early next month before the detention period expires on Feb. 7.

The schedule can be pushed back if Yoon requests that the court review the legality of his formal arrest.

Yoon and his legal team previously asked the court to review the validity of his arrest, arguing the initial arrest warrant to detain the president was issued by the Seoul Western District Court, which they said makes it invalid due to jurisdictional issues. But, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the request on Thursday.

The South Korean court issues two types of arrest warrants. The initial warrant, issued by the Seoul Western District Court on Jan. 7, allowed Yoon’s detention for 48 hours following his arrest. The second, a formal arrest warrant issued by the same court on Sunday, extended the president’s detention by up to 20 days to facilitate interrogation and allow the case to be referred to the prosecution, which has the authority to charge a sitting president with insurrection.

Although the prosecution tentatively agreed with the CIO to divide the 20-day detention period into two 10-day phases, it reportedly sent an official document to the CIO on Monday afternoon requesting an earlier transfer of the case.

The CIO stated that no changes to the schedule could be confirmed as of press time.

Under the Constitution, a sitting president is immune to indictment for any crime other than insurrection and treason.