Ousted former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, who is in detention while on trial and facing various criminal probes, lay on the floor of his cell yesterday and refused to leave it for questioning, a spokesperson for a special prosecutor said.
Yoon was removed from office in April by the South Korean Constitutional Court over his botched attempt last year to declare martial law and is now being investigated by a special prosecution team formed under new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.
Prosecutors investigating influence-peddling allegations connected to Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, had tried to get him to comply with an arrest warrant and attend questioning voluntarily, a spokesperson for the special prosecution said.
Photo: Reuters
“However, the suspect stubbornly refused to do so, while lying on the ground, not dressed in a prison uniform,” Oh Jung-hee, the spokesperson for the special prosecution, told a news briefing.
She said investigators would try again to bring him in, even if they had to use force.
Yoon was dressed only in his undershirt and underwear when prosecutors came to his cell, the Yonhap News Agency reported, citing the special prosecution.
Yu Jeong-hwa, one of Yoon’s lawyers, said that bringing up what he was wearing in a small space where the temperature was close to 40°C was a public insult to his dignity and showed how the state was contravening inmates’ human rights.
The former president was put back in a solitary cell at the Seoul Detention Center in last month, as prosecutors investigating his short-lived declaration of martial law in December last year sought additional charges against him.
Yoon is already on trial for insurrection, a charge which is punishable by death or life imprisonment.
He also faces a string of other investigations, including one into scandals surrounding former first lady Kim, where the couple allegedly exerted inappropriate influence over elections.
The former president has repeatedly rejected requests by prosecutors to appear for questioning, citing health issues.
His lawyers on Thursday said that he was unwell due to preexisting conditions, including a condition that meant there was a risk of him losing his eyesight.
In a reference to Yoon’s position as a former top prosecutor, Oh said the case was being closely scrutinized by the public.
“The suspect has consistently highlighted the importance of laws, principles, fairness and common sense, and through this case people are watching if the law applies equally to everyone,” Oh said.
The death of a former head of China’s one-child policy has been met not by tributes, but by castigation of the abandoned policy on social media this week. State media praised Peng Peiyun (彭珮雲), former head of China’s National Family Planning Commission from 1988 to 1998, as “an outstanding leader” in her work related to women and children. The reaction on Chinese social media to Peng’s death in Beijing on Sunday, just shy of her 96th birthday, was less positive. “Those children who were lost, naked, are waiting for you over there” in the afterlife, one person posted on China’s Sina Weibo platform. China’s
‘NO COUNTRY BUMPKIN’: The judge rejected arguments that former prime minister Najib Razak was an unwitting victim, saying Najib took steps to protect his position Imprisoned former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak was yesterday convicted, following a corruption trial tied to multibillion-dollar looting of the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state investment fund. The nation’s high court found Najib, 72, guilty on four counts of abuse of power and 21 charges of money laundering related to more than US$700 million channeled into his personal bank accounts from the 1MDB fund. Najib denied any wrongdoing, and maintained the funds were a political donation from Saudi Arabia and that he had been misled by rogue financiers led by businessman Low Taek Jho. Low, thought to be the scandal’s mastermind, remains
‘POLITICAL LOYALTY’: The move breaks with decades of precedent among US administrations, which have tended to leave career ambassadors in their posts US President Donald Trump’s administration has ordered dozens of US ambassadors to step down, people familiar with the matter said, a precedent-breaking recall that would leave embassies abroad without US Senate-confirmed leadership. The envoys, career diplomats who were almost all named to their jobs under former US president Joe Biden, were told over the phone in the past few days they needed to depart in the next few weeks, the people said. They would not be fired, but finding new roles would be a challenge given that many are far along in their careers and opportunities for senior diplomats can
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday announced plans for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an anti-Semitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season. Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harm’s way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al-Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself. Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and
RSS