Former President Yoon Suk Yeol Faces Off Against Special Counsel in High-Stakes Interrogation

A special counsel team is set to make a second attempt Tuesday to bring in former President Yoon Suk Yeol from his detention cell for questioning over his martial law bid.

The team, led by special counsel Cho Eun-suk, has requested that the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital, bring Yoon to its interrogation room by 2 p.m.

Since his second arrest last Thursday, the former president has consistently refused to comply with repeated summonses issued by the special counsel team.

On Monday, the team attempted to have correctional officers bring him to their office but withdrew after Yoon refused to leave his cell. They acknowledged that they could not use physical force due to his status as a former president.

The chances of Yoon complying on Tuesday are considered low.

If he refuses again, the special counsel team may opt to visit him at the detention center for questioning. However, even in this scenario, the former president could still refuse to cooperate.

Should this pattern of non-cooperation continue, the special counsel might decide to indict Yoon without additional questioning.

Yoon faces five key 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 add legitimacy to his actions. Allegedly, he had this document signed by then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and then-Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun before discarding it.

This marks Yoon’s second arrest.

His first arrest occurred in January while he was still in office. However, a court later accepted his request to cancel the arrest, leading to his release in March.

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