Former President Yoon Suk Yeol Refuses to Cooperate with Special Counsel’s Questioning!

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk’s team failed Tuesday in its second attempt to bring former President Yoon Suk Yeol from his detention cell for questioning over his martial law bid.

The team had instructed the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, to bring Yoon to its interrogation room by 2 p.m.

However, Yoon refused to cooperate during two attempts by correctional officers on Monday and Tuesday, according to the team. The officers reported they could not use physical force due to Yoon’s status as a former president.

In a press notice, the special counsel’s team stated they have not yet notified former President Yoon’s side of any additional appearances. “We will conduct a thorough review of various means to question him, including a future appearance and its date, along with additional instructions to bring him in,” the notice read.

During an earlier press briefing, assistant special counsel Park Ji-young said Yoon’s legal team has not expressed any intent regarding the questioning since Monday. “We interpret that as a refusal to undergo any questioning,” she stated.

Park emphasized that while a suspect has the right to remain silent, the criminal justice system requires questioning to take place.

“Refusing to be questioned could count against the suspect and might influence the severity of punishment in sentencing,” she added.

The former president has consistently refused to comply with summonses from the special counsel team since his second arrest last Thursday.

In a statement to the press on Tuesday, Yoon’s lawyers criticized the special counsel team for insisting on bringing him in when he could be questioned at the detention center.

“It is nothing more than an attempt to publicly humiliate a former president,” they argued.

The assistant special counsel stated that the correctional officers would be held accountable for their failure to carry out the team’s order.

“We questioned the correctional officers about the specific circumstances surrounding their failure to execute our instruction to bring in suspect Yoon Suk Yeol,” Park explained.

If this pattern continues, the special counsel may decide to indict Yoon without further questioning.

Yoon faces five major charges, including violating the rights of Cabinet members by summoning only a select few to a meeting held shortly before he declared martial law on December 3.

He is also suspected of creating a false martial law declaration document after December 3 to lend legitimacy to his actions, having it signed by then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun before discarding it.

This marks Yoon’s second arrest.

The first occurred in January while he was still in office, but a court later granted his request to cancel the arrest, leading to his release in March.

Since then, Yoon has been on trial for insurrection and abuse of power charges related to his failed martial law bid. (Yonhap)