Prosecutor General Yoon's Directive to Cancel Detention and Order Release Sparks Investigation Team's Backlash

Regarding the court's decision to cancel the detention of President Yoon Seok-yeol, it is reported that the Supreme Prosecutors' Office leadership accepted this and issued guidelines to the investigation team to order his release.

The Seoul Seocho District Prosecutors' Office on the 7th, where the court accepted President Yoon Seok-yeol's request for cancellation of detention. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the legal community on the 8th, the top officials of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, including Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, held a meeting the previous day after the court's decision to cancel the detention and reached a consensus that it was appropriate to order the release of President Yoon.

The meeting reportedly included Prosecutor General Shim, Deputy Prosecutor General Lee Jin-dong, and six other senior officials at the level of chief prosecutors or higher who served as heads of departments at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.

All attendees agreed without dissent that ordering the release of President Yoon and waiving the immediate appeal was appropriate, and they conveyed this unanimous opinion to the Special Investigation Headquarters for Emergency Prosecutorial Measures (Special Investigation Headquarters).

However, the Special Investigation Headquarters reportedly expressed disagreement with the Supreme Prosecutors' Office's directive to order the release, arguing that the court's decision to cancel the detention should be challenged through an immediate appeal or other means. As a result, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and the Special Investigation Headquarters have yet to reach a conclusion on whether to order President Yoon's release and continue discussions until the afternoon of the same day.