Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), arrives for work at the government complex building in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, on Jan. 6, 2025. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Jan. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — The state anti-corruption agency has asked the police to take over the execution of a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, both sides said Monday, prompting protests from Yoon’s legal team and the police.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) made the request in an official letter late Sunday with one day left until the warrant’s expiry.
“The CIO sent us an official letter requesting our cooperation without prior consultations,” a police official told Yonhap News Agency. “We are internally carrying out a legal review.”
The request came two days after the CIO tried to detain Yoon at his official residence but withdrew after an hourslong standoff with presidential security staff.
Yoon has refused to cooperate with the CIO’s summonses for questioning or warrant execution as the agency is not technically authorized to investigate charges of insurrection that he faces over his brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.
The CIO has also come under criticism for mobilizing police officers during the execution of the warrant last Friday despite having no authority to command the police.
“Under the Criminal Procedure Act, a detention warrant is to be executed by the police under the command of a prosecutor,” Lee Jae-seung, the deputy CIO chief, told reporters. “Command means the execution of a warrant can be entrusted to a police officer.”
Lee explained the CIO and the police held talks after Friday’s events on the timing and method of a second attempt at detaining Yoon.
A letter was sent to acting President Choi Sang-mok to request the cooperation of the Presidential Security Service in executing the warrant, but no response was given.
“We decided that we could no longer wait for a reply and given the police’s expertise in executing warrants and its ability to bring uniformity to the command system on the scene, we determined that entrusting execution to (the police) would help swiftly and effectively carry out the procedures,” Lee said.
The CIO will not, however, transfer its investigation to the police, he said. In the event Yoon is detained, the agency will question him at its office.
The CIO also plans to seek an extension of the warrant before it expires at midnight, Lee said.
Yoon’s lawyer, Yun Gap-keun, immediately protested the decision, likening it to subcontracting for a construction project.
“Watching the CIO’s investigative behavior that lacks legal grounds raises doubts about its qualifications and abilities as a state agency,” he said in a statement.
The CIO has been working with the police and the defense ministry’s investigation unit to conduct a joint probe into the events surrounding Yoon’s martial law decree.
Sources said the CIO’s letter was prompting complaints within the police that the agency was trying to shift its responsibilities after passively executing the warrant last Friday.
The unprecedented attempt to arrest a sitting president has drawn thousands of protesters to rallies near Yoon’s residence since last week.
Rallies for and against the president continued Monday, after many slept out in subzero temperatures.
(Yonhap)
