South Korea’s Yoon avoids fresh questioning after dramatic arrest

South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol refused to appear for fresh questioning by investigators Thursday, a day after his dramatic arrest over an ill-fated 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 — who faces charges of insurrection — was questioned for hours Wednesday but exercised his right to remain silent before being moved to a detention centre. Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) wanted 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 1:50 pm that there is ‘no change in his position’, indicating his intent not to appear,” the CIO said in a statement. Lawyers confirmed to AFP the embattled leader would not attend, without specifying the reason, but told Yonhap news agency it was for health reasons.

“President Yoon is not well and fully explained his position yesterday so there is nothing more to be interrogated about,” lawyer Yoon Kab-keun told Yonhap.

Wednesday’s dramatic arrest saw a hundreds-strong force of police and investigators bypass bus barricades, cut barbed wire and scale ladders to get inside the compound where Yoon was surrounded by hundreds of guards.