A Seoul court issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for an incumbent judge who allegedly took bribes from a loan shark in return for legal favors.

The 43-year-old judge, identified only by his surname Choi, is accused of receiving 260 million won ($239,000) in kickbacks from the private money lender since 2009, prosecutors said. The usurer has been standing trial on separate charges for the past two and a half years.

"The details of his crime have been ascertained enough, and there is enough reason to detain him," Judge Um Sang-pil said in his decision.

Choi was put under emergency arrest a day earlier after prosecutors decided he may pressure his relatives, whose bank accounts he allegedly borrowed, to change their testimony in his favor.

Prosecutors allege that Choi and the moneylender go back to 2008, when Choi was a prosecutor in charge of the man's drug-related case. The two are from the same hometown.

Choi had been under investigation since April and reportedly admitted to most of his wrongdoing in the past few days. He did not show up to the hearing on Tuesday that determined the legality of his arrest.

It marks the first time in eight years that a sitting judge has been investigated over bribery allegations. The last time was in 2006, when a Seoul High Court judge faced similar charges.

The judge has tendered his resignation, but the Supreme Court has yet to decide whether to accept it. (Yonhap)