Yoon's Arrest Warrant Dismissed... Special Prosecutor Summons for 28th, Warns of Re-Request if Unanswered

Court Dismisses Arrest Warrant, Citing "Willingness to Appear"
Special Prosecutor Warns, "Will Consider Renewed Warrant Request if Yoon Fails to Appear"
Grounds for Dismissal Lose Persuasiveness if Yoon Does Not Comply

Special Prosecutor Cho Eunseok, who is investigating the 12·3 Martial Law-related rebellion and treason case, requested an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Seokyeol, but the court dismissed the request on the 25th. The special prosecutor immediately took follow-up action by summoning former President Yoon to appear three days later. The special prosecutor also warned that if Yoon does not comply, they would reconsider requesting an arrest warrant.

The special prosecutor for the rebellion case announced to the media on this day, "The court dismissed the arrest warrant for former President Yoon, which was requested yesterday, on the grounds that the suspect had expressed willingness to comply with the special prosecutor's summons if requested to appear."

Former President Yoon Seokyeol is leaving the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, after the 7th trial for charges of leading a rebellion and abuse of authority obstructing the exercise of rights on the 16th. Photo by Yonhap News

The court accepted former President Yoon's argument that it was unlawful for the special prosecutor, after taking over the case from the police, to request an arrest warrant without issuing a single summons, despite Yoon's stated willingness to comply if a proper summons was delivered through due process.

Accordingly, the special prosecutor demanded that former President Yoon and his legal counsel appear as a suspect at the special prosecutor's office in the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office building in Seocho-gu, Seoul, at 9 a.m. on the 28th.

The special prosecutor stated that if former President Yoon fails to comply with the summons, they will consider requesting an arrest warrant. In response to a question asking, "Does this mean the special prosecutor will request an arrest warrant after three summonses?" a representative said, "That is not the case. We have requested his appearance, and if he does not comply, we will reconsider whether to request an arrest warrant."

Observers believe that the special prosecutor's public disclosure of the date and time for Yoon's appearance, immediately after the warrant was dismissed, was intended to emphasize that there is no room for negotiation regarding the summons schedule. In addition, since Yoon did not comply with three previous police summonses, and considering the continuity of the investigation after the case was transferred to the special prosecutor, it is expected that the special prosecutor will not repeatedly issue summonses as is usually done.

If Yoon does not appear on the 28th, his previous claim that he was willing to respond to the special prosecutor's summons will lose credibility, raising the likelihood that an arrest warrant will be issued immediately. There is growing speculation that Yoon will comply with the summons, taking these factors into account.

The special prosecutor for the rebellion case had requested an arrest warrant from the Seoul Central District Court the previous day, citing clear evidence that Yoon had no intention of complying with the special prosecutor's summons, after he failed to respond to three police special investigation team summonses, on charges including obstruction of special official duties.

Former President Yoon faces charges of instructing the Presidential Security Service to prevent his arrest during the attempted execution of an arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) in January. He is also accused of ordering the deletion of information related to the secure phone of former Army Special Warfare Commander Kwak Jonggeun and former Capital Defense Commander Lee Jinwoo from the Security Service after the declaration of martial law on December 7 of last year.

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