South Korean investigators fail for 3rd time to question impeached president

ANKARA

The South Korean investigators failed for the third time on Wednesday to question impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search the presidential office and residence amid an ongoing probe into failed Dec. 3 martial law bid.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) said the raid was aimed at seizing the server records of a secure phone used by Yoon, computers, and other electronic equipment and documents, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

However, the raid was unsuccessful as presidential security staff refused to cooperate with the investigators and blocked their access, citing laws that restrict access to military-related areas.

Since he was elected in 2022, Yoon operated the presidential office from the Defense Ministry compound in the Yongsan district in capital Seoul.

The investigators left the presidential compound after five hours while Yoon met his lawyers. He was formally arrested last week and is held at a detention center in Uiwang, south of the capital Seoul.

He is barred from meeting anyone but lawyers.

Yoon's side "needs to respect the decision of the judiciary," CIO chief Oh Dong-woon had said.

The anti-graft body's earlier attempts failed to bring Yoon for questioning after the impeached president refused to cooperate.

On Wednesday, an opposition-led parliamentary committee also issued an order to bring Yoon and six others involved in last month's martial law declaration to appear at the National Assembly as witnesses.

His formal arrest warrant triggered violent protests by Yoon's supporters. Police on Wednesday secured an arrest warrant for 56 people who are allegedly involved in an attack on a court house which ordered Yoon's arrest.

Yoon is the country's first sitting president to be formally arrested after a Seoul court issued a warrant on Sunday to detain him for an extended period.

The 63-year-old embattled president is waiting for the outcome of a trial by Constitutional Court after he was impeached by parliament on Dec. 14, and remains suspended from duties.

*Islamuddin Sajid contributed to the story from Pakistan