By Hyun Young Yi
SEOUL (Reuters) – Deposed South Korean President Yoon Suk-yul sent a message to rally his supporters, saying he would fight to the end as he faces an attempt by authorities to arrest him over the martial law he imposed, which did not last long on December 3. The lawyer said Thursday.
“I am watching on YouTube all the hard work you are doing,” Yoon wrote in his letter late Wednesday to an estimated hundreds of supporters who gathered near his official residence to protest his investigation.
“I will fight until the end to protect this country with you,” he said in the letter, a photo of which Seok Dong-hyun, a lawyer advising Leon, sent to Reuters.
The opposition Democratic Party, which controls the majority in parliament and led the impeachment of Yoon on December 14, said the letter proves that Yoon was delusional and still committed to completing his “rebellion.”
“As if attempting a rebellion were not enough, he is now inciting his supporters to violently clash,” party spokesman Cho Seung-lae said in a statement.
A court on Tuesday approved an arrest warrant for Yoon, which could make him the first president to be detained in office as part of investigations into allegations that he masterminded the rebellion by trying to impose martial law.
Mutiny is one of the few criminal charges from which the South Korean president is not immune.
The Senior Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is leading a joint team of investigators including police and prosecutors, has until January 6 to execute the arrest warrant.
It was not clear when and how the arrest would take place and whether the presidential security service, which denied investigators access with a search warrant to Yoon's office and official residence, would attempt to stop the arrest attempt.
Separately, Yoon's impeachment trial is being heard in the Constitutional Court. The court is scheduled to hold the second session on Friday. Yoon was suspended from his presidential duties and Finance Minister Choi Sang-muk took over as acting president until the outcome of the trial.
If the court upholds the accusation and Yoon is removed from office, new presidential elections will be held within 60 days.
Yoon Kap-keun, the ousted president's lawyer, said the arrest warrant is illegal and invalid because the CIO does not have the authority under South Korean law to request an arrest warrant.
The arrest warrant for Yoon as well as the search of his office and residence were issued after a conservative prosecutor defied repeated summons by investigators to appear for questioning in the criminal investigation separate from the Constitutional Court trial.
The former defense minister, who officials said recommended Yoon declare martial law, has been indicted on mutiny charges and will stand trial on January 16. Some senior military officers leading the defense of the capital, Seoul, have also been indicted for mutiny. Alleged involvement.
