President Yoon to Personally Investigate Lee Jae-seung, Deputy Chief of the Corruption Investigation Office... Scheduled for Detention at Seoul Detention Center

PCC Begins Investigation of President Yoon at 11 a.m.
Arrest Warrant Executed and Suspect Interrogation Underway

On the 15th, the High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Unit (PCC), which executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol and secured his custody, immediately began investigating President Yoon.

President Yoon Seok-yeol is arriving at the Gwacheon Office of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on the 15th, when the execution of the second arrest warrant was underway. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju

At 10:33 a.m. that day, the PCC executed the arrest warrant for President Yoon and announced that from 11 a.m., they started the suspect interrogation of President Yoon in the video recording interrogation room 338 at the Government Complex Gwacheon PCC office.

The investigation of President Yoon is being conducted directly by Deputy Chief Lee Jae-seung of the PCC, and the PCC stated that there was no separate tea time with Chief Oh Dong-woon or Deputy Chief Lee.

Initially, it was expected that Deputy Chief Prosecutor Cha Jeong-hyun, the lead prosecutor on this case, would handle the investigation of President Yoon, but considering that the suspect is the sitting president, Deputy Chief Lee appears to have taken charge of the investigation himself. Deputy Chief Lee is a 30th class graduate of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, seven classes junior to President Yoon, and a junior alumnus of Seoul National University Law School.

It is known that one lawyer representing President Yoon was present during the investigation.

On the 15th, when the second arrest warrant for President Yoon Seok-yeol was being executed, the vehicle carrying President Yoon arrived at the Gwacheon Office of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju

The interrogation room is reported to be about 6.6 square meters (approximately 2 pyeong), similar in size to those used for ordinary suspects.

President Yoon is accused of charges including leading a rebellion and abuse of power.

Specifically, the allegations include ▲attempting to obstruct the resolution to lift martial law by blocking the National Assembly ▲ordering the arrest of key figures such as Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, and Han Dong-hoon, former leader of the People Power Party ▲attempting to seize the Central Election Commission and steal servers.

In the section of the search warrant presented to President Yoon by the PCC that explains the suspected crimes, it states: "The suspect is suspected of having declared an unconstitutional and illegal emergency martial law, issued an unlawful martial law proclamation that prohibits the political activities of the National Assembly, illegally blocked the National Assembly with police and military personnel responsible for martial law, preventing members of the National Assembly from entering, obstructed the exercise of voting rights to lift martial law, and illegally arrested opposition party leaders who did not meet arrest conditions."

Regarding the suspect facts against President Yoon, the PCC stated: "The suspect, together with Kim Yong-hyun and others, declared martial law to paralyze the National Assembly, which was led by the opposition party and was continuously pushing for impeachment of government officials, drastic cuts to the government budget, and the appointment of a special prosecutor regarding stock manipulation allegations involving the president’s spouse. On April 10, 2024, concerning the 22nd National Assembly election, the suspect occupied the Central Election Commission and secured election-related electronic data on the grounds of alleged election fraud through computer manipulation, intending to investigate and arrest public officials of the Central Election Commission as election offenders."

Regarding the conditions for declaring martial law, the PCC noted: "Around December 3, 2024, there were no special circumstances indicating a state of war or a comparable national emergency, nor was there extreme disruption of social order that would make the performance of administrative and judicial functions significantly difficult."

It continued: "The suspect, knowing that the conditions for declaring martial law were not met, conspired with Kim Yong-hyun and colluded with the commanders of the Counterintelligence Command, Yeo In-hyung; the Capital Defense Command, Lee Jin-woo; the Special Forces Command, Kwak Jong-geun; the Intelligence Command, Moon Sang-ho; and the National Police Agency Chief, Cho Ji-ho, to plan martial law despite the lack of necessary conditions."

Since the PCC has received and analyzed investigation records from the prosecution regarding Kim Yong-hyun, former Minister of National Defense, who was previously indicted and is a co-conspirator with President Yoon in the charge of rebellion, it is expected that the investigation of President Yoon will proceed in a manner that directly confirms the facts revealed through testimonies of other related parties and objective evidence. It is not yet confirmed whether President Yoon will exercise his right to remain silent.

After the investigation concludes that day, President Yoon is expected to be detained at Seoul Detention Center. The PCC is likely to complete the investigation and request an arrest warrant for President Yoon within 48 hours from the time of his arrest.