South Korea court rejects ex-president Yoon’s objection to execution of arrest and search warrant  News
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South Korea court rejects ex-president Yoon’s objection to execution of arrest and search warrant 

The Criminal Division of the Seoul Western District Court on Sunday rejected former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s objection to the execution of the arrest warrant and the search warrant of the presidential resident, according to local media outlet Yonhap.

Yoon’s lawyers filed the objection on Thursday, calling the warrants “illegal” and citing Article 417 of the Criminal Procedure Act, according to Seoul News 1. The provision allows a person to file a petition to cancel or alter the disposition and suspend the effects in case of dissatisfaction with the disposition issued by a public prosecutor or a judicial police officer concerning confinement, seizure, or return of seized items. 

Also, Yoon’s legal team insisted that the criminal law prohibiting the execution of search or arrest warrants in restricted military and security areas should apply to Yoon’s case, and the judge’s ruling not to apply would be arbitrary.

The grounds for the Court’s rejection have not been released yet. According to local media YTN’s interview with Attorney Kim Sung-soo, the reason could be related to Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act that prevent the execution of search and seizure warrants in places where secret military matters and secret public official matters might be endangered without permission of the person in charge. 

The Corruption Investigation for High-ranking Officials handling Yoon’s martial law case attempted to execute the arrest and search warrant for Yoon on Friday but failed after a six-hour standoff with being blocked by the Presidential Security Service.

YTN has reported that an official letter demanding cooperation from the acting president Choi Sang-mok was sent by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit yesterday afternoon but no response yet. Article 3 of the Presidential Security Act says the chief of security has the authority to direct and supervise the security officials and the president has the authority to supervise the heads of central administrative agencies under Article 11 of the Government Organization Act. 

The deadline for executing the warrant is tomorrow midnight on January 6. According to local media outlets, the continuous block by the Security Service can prevent the execution of the warrants. When the reason for dismissal is known, there could be a re-appeal filed at the Supreme Court.  

An arrest warrant to detain Yoon for questioning for 48 hours was issued on December 31 under the charges of insurrection and abuse of power after his short-lived martial law declaration on December 3 that was reversed by South Korea’s National Assembly.

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