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South Korea martial law 2024
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South Korea’s Yoon refuses to appear for interrogation over martial law bid

Yoon’s lawyers also filed for a review of the warrant used to arrest the impeached president

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A motorcade carrying South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol leaves for Seoul Detention Centre on January 15. Photo: Yonhap via Reuters
Agence France-Presse
South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol refused to appear for fresh questioning by investigators on Thursday, a day after his dramatic arrest over a failed martial law declaration.
The Constitutional Court also opened its second hearing in a trial that will decide whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment, following the dawn raid that made him the country’s first-ever sitting president to be detained.

The former star prosecutor – facing charges of insurrection – was questioned for hours on Wednesday but exercised his right to remain silent before being moved to a detention centre.

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Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) were to resume Yoon’s questioning on Thursday afternoon, but his team told them he would not attend.

“President Yoon Suk-yeol’s representatives informed the CIO through his legal counsel around 1.50pm that there is ‘no change in his position’, indicating his intent not to appear,” the CIO said in a statement.

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Yoon’s lawyer confirmed that the embattled leader would not attend, without specifying the reason, but told the Yonhap news agency it was for health reasons.

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