The impeachment trial of Yoon from South Korea was postponed after he did not attend by Reuters
Written by Joyce Lee
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Constitutional Court canceled the opening of the impeachment trial of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol within minutes on Tuesday after the embattled leader failed to appear in court.
A lawyer advising Yoon said the president, who has been holed up in his hillside home in Seoul for weeks, would not attend, saying the authorities’ request to detain him prevented Yoon from giving his opinion on the case.
The next session of the case is scheduled for Thursday and if Yoon decides not to attend the trial he will start with his legal team representing him.
Outside the court, one of Yoon’s lawyers, Yoon Kab-keun, said the president will decide whether to attend the court in person on Thursday after discussions on his defense strategy.
The Constitutional Court must decide within 180 days whether to remove Yoon from office or restore his presidential powers.
Yoon is also facing a criminal investigation for sedition, and authorities are seeking to issue a warrant for his arrest after he ignored a summons to appear for questioning.
His body reiterated on Tuesday that the detectives’ arrest warrant was illegal, and said Yoon would respond to a legally issued arrest warrant.
Yoon’s declaration of martial law on December 3, which was revoked six hours later, plunged one of Asia’s most fragile democracies into an era of unprecedented political turmoil.
Yoon’s official said on Tuesday that Yoon’s office is ready to consult with detectives to avoid conflict when a warrant for Yoon’s arrest is issued.
Yoon may go to a third location outside his stronghold, or be visited at his home so investigators can investigate Yoon, presidential chief Chung Jin-suk said in a statement on Tuesday.
Authorities investigating corruption, including the Chief Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) and police, obtained a re-arrest warrant from a South Korean court after their first attempt to detain Yoon for questioning failed after a disagreement with the president. guards earlier this month.
The CIO, the police and the Presidential Security Service (PSS) met on Tuesday to discuss the use of the latest arrest warrant, investigators said in a statement.
At the meeting, the police and the CIO asked the PSS to cooperate in executing the warrant peacefully and safely, and they were waiting for a response.
The Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday that the military in charge of the security of the president will not be involved in connection with the issuance of the warrant for Yoon.
Amid South Korea’s political turmoil, North Korea launched several short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday, coinciding with a visit to Seoul by Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, and less than a week before US President-elect Donald Trump takes office. after being tipped off by the National Intelligence Service, on Monday he said the North’s latest weapons test was aimed at “showing off its US deterrence assets and drawing. Trump’s attention”.
