Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is scheduled to undergo another round of questioning by a special counsel team this week, following an intense 15-hour session on Saturday. The interrogation centers on allegations related to his December 3 martial law declaration and suspicions that he ordered the Presidential Security Service to prevent his arrest in January.
On Monday, Yoon requested that the special counsel postpone the second round of questioning from Tuesday to Thursday or later, asking that the decision be made in consultation with his legal team. However, prosecutors rejected this request. During a previous session, Yoon ended his interrogation early after refusing to answer questions from a police official involved in his arrest, whom Yoon has accused of acting illegally.
The special counsel team, according to Yonhap news agency, intends to continue questioning former President Yoon Suk Yeol until the investigation is fully completed. Yoon has been officially summoned to appear for further questioning on Monday, with prosecutors indicating that they may call him repeatedly until the inquiry is concluded.
During a lengthy session on Sunday, prosecutors interrogated Yoon for about five hours. The session was temporarily halted due to objections from Yoon’s legal team, who challenged the presence of a police investigator they argued was unfit to question the former president. Yoon is facing serious charges, including insurrection related to his martial law declaration, which sparked widespread protests and political unrest in the country.
Yoon’s lawyers reported that after the session, the former leader answered the questions to the best of his ability. The special counsel is expected to resume questioning Monday morning, focusing on allegations that Yoon ordered officials to delete records from secure phones used by those involved in the martial law operations.
Yoon’s legal team requested a postponement of the scheduled Tuesday session, citing his health concerns and a pending criminal trial related to the insurrection charges. The special counsel partially granted this request by moving the date to Tuesday, but Yoon again sought to delay the questioning to Thursday or later. Prosecutors rejected this second request, emphasizing that scheduling is within their authority.
During Saturday’s questioning, Yoon abruptly ended his interrogation after objecting to the involvement of Park Chang-hwan, a senior police official investigating the case of martial law. Yoon’s team argued that since he had filed criminal complaints against police officers present at his controversial arrest in January, Park was unfit to question him. The special counsel countered that Park was not at the initial arrest attempt but was involved in related investigations, leading to a standoff in which Yoon refused further questioning for hours.
In response to Yoon’s legal team spreading what the special counsel described as false information about the investigator, prosecutors announced plans to investigate the lawyers for obstructing the probe under provisions of the Special Counsel Act. Assistant prosecutor Park Ji-yeong stated that such interference would be met with strict legal action, regardless of the individual’s status.
