Prosecutors Request Arrest Warrant for President Yoon on 'Rebellion Leader' Charges... 45 Days After Martial Law Declaration

by Choi Sukjin

Published 17 Jan.2025 18:10(KST)

The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division, investigating the '12·3 Emergency Martial Law' incident, filed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Seok-yeol on the charge of leading a rebellion on the 17th.

The request for an arrest warrant against President Yoon was made 45 days after he declared martial law on the 3rd of last month. This is the first time in constitutional history that an arrest warrant has been requested for a sitting president.

President Yoon Suk-yeol is entering the Gwacheon Corruption Investigation Office building on the 15th. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju

At around 5:40 p.m. that day, the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division filed an arrest warrant against President Yoon at the Seoul Western District Court on charges of leading a rebellion and abuse of authority.

President Yoon is accused of conspiring with former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun and others to declare martial law with the intent to disrupt the constitutional order, despite the conditions for declaring martial law not being met. The charges include attempting to obstruct the resolution to lift martial law by blocking the National Assembly, ordering the arrest of key figures such as Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, and Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the People Power Party, and attempting to seize the Central Election Commission and steal servers.

The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division had summoned President Yoon for questioning at 10 a.m. that day after he failed to respond to a summons the previous afternoon. However, President Yoon did not appear. Considering that the deadline for the arrest warrant was 9 p.m. that day, the division did not attempt to summon him for questioning in the afternoon and immediately filed the arrest warrant.

President Yoon's side stated that during the initial investigation, they had sufficiently conveyed their position that the martial law declaration was legitimate, that the charge of rebellion does not apply, that the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division has no jurisdiction over this case, and that filing an arrest warrant at the Seoul Western District Court was unlawful due to lack of jurisdiction, and therefore no further investigation was necessary.

However, the judge So Jun-seop of the Criminal Division 32 at the Seoul Central District Court, who handled the arrest warrant review for President Yoon the previous day, dismissed the request, stating, "This request is deemed unfounded."

If the arrest warrant for President Yoon is issued, after a supplementary investigation lasting ten days in consultation with the prosecution, the investigation records and related documents and evidence will be forwarded to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. Under the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Division Act, prosecutors at the prosecution office, not the division's investigators, have the authority to indict the president on charges of rebellion.