S. Korea's special counsel seeks warrant to detain ex-President Yoon

SEOUL -- South Korea's special counsel investigating former President Yoon Suk-yeol's short-lived martial law imposition sought a warrant to detain the ousted president, the special counsel team's spokesperson said Sunday.

Cho Eun-suk, independent counsel leading the investigation into Yoon's insurrection and other charges, requested the warrant issuance from the Seoul Central District Court.

The charges specified in the warrant included the obstruction of justice, abuse of power and writing a bogus official document, the spokesperson noted.

The detention warrant was sought to keep Yoon in custody for an extended period of time, or at least 20 days.

The independent counsel team, which launched its investigation on June 18, sought a separate warrant to arrest Yoon for up to 48 hours last month, but it was dismissed by the Seoul court as Yoon showed his willingness to be questioned by the special counsel.

Yoon rejected the third police call on June 19 to appear for questioning over his charges of ordering the presidential security service to block the attempt in January to arrest him and to delete information on security phones offered to three military commanders.

Yoon was apprehended in the presidential office on Jan. 15 and was indicted under detention on Jan. 26 as a suspected ringleader of insurrection, but he was released on March 8 as prosecutors decided not to appeal against the court's release approval.

The constitutional court upheld a motion to impeach Yoon on April 4 over his botched martial law bid last December, officially removing him from office.