SEOUL – The execution of the arrest warrant for South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk Yeol failed again on the morning of Aug 7, according to the special counsel team looking into allegations involving his wife, as investigators withdrew from the Seoul Detention Center holding Yoon, citing safety concerns that the team said made it difficult to proceed.
The special counsel team investigating former first lady Kim Keon Hee revisited the Seoul Detention Center to carry out an arrest warrant for Yoon that had been approved by the court. But after a standoff lasting over an hour, it was determined that the escalating situation made it unfeasible to continue with the arrest.
The special counsel team said it had begun the warrant execution using measures including the use of physical force at 8.25am local time (7.25am Singapore time). But it added that due to the “suspect’s strong resistance and concerns raised on-site about potential injuries, the execution was halted at 9.40am.”
The warrant execution on Aug 7 was the second attempt from the probe into Kim Keon Hee to arrest the former president, who reportedly resisted the initial arrest by lying on the floor of his detention cell and not wearing his prison uniform on Aug 1.
Though the special counsel team refrained from physical contact due to safety concerns and called off the first attempt to execute the warrant, it warned Yoon that the team would follow through on the next attempt “even if it requires the use of physical force”.
Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho previously instructed Seoul Detention Center officials to fully cooperate with the special counsel’s warrant execution, telling them to “ensure strict and fair law enforcement in accordance with law and principle”.
With the court-issued warrant set to expire in the later part of Aug 7, the special counsel team has yet to make any statement about subsequent measures related to the warrant execution as of press time. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
