Seoul Central District Court issued warrant, citing risk of destruction of evidence
(Bloomberg) -- A South Korean court issued a warrant to arrest former President Yoon Suk Yeol, putting him back in detention four months after he was released over his botched attempt to put the country under martial law.
The Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant early Thursday, citing the risk of Yoon destroying evidence, a special counsel team looking into his case said. It’s Yoon’s second detention since he shocked the nation and the world by briefly imposing martial law in early December.
Yoon was initially taken into custody in January in a dramatic pre-dawn operation that made him the first sitting president in the country to be arrested by law enforcement authorities. But the court accepted the disgraced leader’s complaint against the validity of his arrest and set him free in March.
The current investigation is led by a different probe team. Yoon’s legal representatives did not immediately have a comment.
Yoon has denied wrongdoing, defending his actions as a desperate bid to deal with North Korea sympathizers trying to paralyze his administration. He was removed from office in April, setting the stage for the launch of the Lee Jae Myung administration last month.
The political turmoil pummeled consumer sentiment, unsettled financial markets and disrupted high-level diplomacy at a time when the trade-reliant economy faced growing risks, including tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
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