A court in Seoul, South Korea, has issued an arrest warrant for the suspended president.
The arrest warrant was initiated due to the president’s attempt to impose a martial law on Dec 3.
Yoo was suspended from his presidential duties since Dec 14th after lawmakers voted to impeach him.
The suspended president is facing several investigations on insurrection and treason charges. The warrant for his arrest comes after the president ignored three summons to appear for questioning over the past two weeks.
In addition to the insurrection and treason charges, he is also being charged with abuse of power. His lawyerYun Gap-geun has however described the warrant as illegal.
Yoo’s arrest warrant should be executed by January 6th. Otherwise, the prosecutors could seek an extension of the warrant after the due date.
After Yoo was impeached, his successor was impeached too by the country’s parliaments. If the warrant for his arrest is successful, he is set to be the first sitting president of the country to be arrested.
The suspended president’s legal team is however fighting the prosecution. They argue that the president has the constitutional right to impose a martial law. They also opined that the president had “legitimate concerns” for not attending the summons.
Whiles Yoo has been ban from leaving the country, his whereabouts are unknown. He however still has the state security protecting him.
He and his legal team are determined to fight the prosecution to the latter.
