President Yoon still plays empty chair politics

Suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol again refused Friday to be questioned by investigators over his failed attempt to impose martial law, hours before an arrest warrant against him expired.

Mr. Yoon, the first sitting South Korean head of state to be arrested, plunged the country into a serious political crisis by declaring martial law in early December, to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces” and “eliminate elements hostile to the State.

Investigators are trying to obtain a 20-day extension of his detention, at the end of the 48 hours provided for in the arrest warrant, time to formalize an indictment against Mr. Yoon.

The IOC (Corruption Investigation Office) summoned Mr. Yoon, 64, for questioning at 10 a.m. local Friday, the Yonhap news agency reported, but his lawyer Yoon Kab-keun told the AFP that the suspended president would refuse to appear for the second day in a row.

Mr. Yoon said he complied with investigators’ demands to avoid any “bloodshed,” but that he did not recognize the legality of the investigation. His party, the People Power Party, also claimed his arrest was illegal.

The Democratic Party, the main opposition party, welcomed Mr. Yoon’s detention and one of its senior officials called it a “first step” towards the restoration of constitutional and legal order after weeks of troubles.

The suspended leader attempted to evade arrest for weeks by holed up in his residential compound, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) who remained loyal.

In a Parliament surrounded by soldiers, the deputies had foiled his plans to establish martial law by voting for a text demanding the lifting of this state of exception. Mr. Yoon complied after a few hours.

On Thursday, around 100 supporters of the suspended president gathered in front of the IOC building to protest his detention and sing chants.

A ruling party lawmaker, Yoon Sang-hyun, described the moments leading up to the arrest, with a seemingly unfazed Yoon preparing sandwiches for his legal team and consoling loyal lawmakers.

“Someone cried and bowed deeply. Yoon patted us on the back to comfort us,” he said in a YouTube interview.

When prosecutors arrived with the arrest warrant, one of Yoon’s last requests was to visit his dog. When they showed the warrant, the president said, “I got it. I know what that means, so let’s do it now,” added the MP.

Faced with investigators, Yoon Suk Yeol has remained silent since his arrest. He published a message on Facebook on Thursday in which he repeats his accusations of electoral fraud and once again insults the “hostile” forces attacking South Korea, an allusion to Pyongyang.

As part of a parallel investigation, the Constitutional Court must decide whether or not to validate the impeachment motion against Mr. Yoon voted by Parliament.

If he loses his title as president, new elections must be held within 60 days.

He did not attend the first two hearings of his impeachment trial this week. The trial can continue in his absence, although the proceedings could last months.

However, the National Assembly’s legal team told reporters before the hearing began that Mr. Yoon’s arrest had “created the necessary conditions to quickly resolve the constitutional crisis through the procedures provided for in the Constitution and the law.