A special counsel investigating former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s alleged insurrection and treason said Thursday it will reconsider whether to seek a detention warrant for former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo after a Seoul court rejected its initial request.
Assistant Special Counsel Park Ji-young told reporters the team will review the reasons behind the dismissal and weigh options, including indicting Han without detention. “All possibilities remain open,” Park said. “There will be no setbacks or obstacles in carrying out the investigation going forward.”
The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the warrant request Wednesday, drawing disappointment from the special counsel team led by Cho Eun-suk.
“We respect the court’s decision,” Park said. “But given that strict application of the law can prevent such historic tragedies, there is a sense of disappointment.”
Park pointed to past martial law declarations — in Busan in 1979 during protests against President Park Chung-hee and in Gwangju in May 1980 — as examples of abuse of power. She said high-ranking officials who enabled those measures should be held accountable.
She added that the team believes the martial law declaration under investigation might not have happened if Han had fully carried out his responsibilities as prime minister and avoided showing support for the measure.
“People would surely agree that high-ranking officials who were in a position to stop the martial law declaration must be held strictly accountable to prevent history from repeating itself,” Park said at a briefing at the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office.
The Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday evening found it difficult to conclude that there was a risk of destroying evidence beyond the exercise of the right to defense. It also found there was little risk of flight, considering Han’s career, age, residence, family ties, attendance at investigative procedures and attitude during the special counsel questioning sessions.
The court further explained that there was room for legal debate concerning key facts and the sequence of the suspect’s actions.
Having put former President Yoon, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and former Interior Minister Lee Sang-min behind bars over the past several months, the special counsel team attempted to ramp up its investigation into Yoon's martial law imposition with a court-issued warrant to detain Han.
But some in legal circles expect the special counsel team to face setbacks due to the court’s decision.
Though high-ranking military officials and former ministers were taken into custody by the insurrection probe, Han became the first Cabinet member in Yoon’s administration to avoid detention by the investigative agency.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com
