Yoon Absent from First Impeachment Hearing on 14th: "Personal Safety and Security Issues Must Be Resolved"

President Yoon Suk-yeol has decided not to attend the first formal hearing of the impeachment trial scheduled for the 14th due to personal safety concerns. However, President Yoon's side stated that he will appear in person at any time once the personal safety and security issues are resolved.

On the 12th, Yoon's lawyer Yoon Gap-geun announced to the press, "The Constitutional Court has collectively scheduled five trial dates on January 14, 16, 21, 23, and February 4, and the president has agreed to attend at an appropriate time," adding, "For the president to attend the constitutional trial, personal safety and security issues must be resolved."

President Yoon Suk-yeol. Photo by Yonhap News

He continued, "However, since the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office and the National Investigation Headquarters are attempting to enforce illegal and invalid arrest warrants through unlawful means, there are concerns about personal safety and potential accidents, so the president will not be able to attend on the 14th."

Nonetheless, Lawyer Yoon said, "He plans to attend at any time once the safety issues are resolved."

The Constitutional Court, which received the impeachment petition against President Yoon on the 14th of last month, held two preparatory hearings on the 27th of last month and the 3rd of this month. Excluding the Lunar New Year holidays, it decided to hold hearings twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays, designating a total of five hearing dates from the 14th through February 4.

Meanwhile, after the failure to execute the first arrest warrant against President Yoon, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) obtained a second arrest warrant from the court. The CIO appears to be carefully preparing to execute the second arrest warrant by discussing the timing and scale of police deployment.

Park Jong-jun, former head of the Presidential Security Service, who was questioned by the police for two consecutive days on the 10th and the previous day, submitted his resignation before appearing on the 10th. Currently, Kim Seong-hoon, deputy head of the Presidential Security Service, is directing security at the presidential residence.

The police, who applied for an arrest warrant against Deputy Chief Kim on charges of obstructing official duties after he ignored police summons three times, are expected to prioritize executing the arrest warrant for Deputy Chief Kim during the process of enforcing the second arrest warrant against President Yoon.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.