Investigators request impeached president appear for questioning

South Korean law enforcement authorities will request that impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol appear for questioning this week over his short-lived martial law decree.

Investigators are exploring whether his ill-conceived power grab amounted to rebellion.

A joint investigative team involving police, an anti-corruption agency and the Defence Ministry plans to convey a request to Mr Yoon’s office that he appear for questioning on Wednesday, the police said on Monday.

Mr Yoon was impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly on Saturday over his martial law enforcement on December 3.

The Constitutional Court began its first meeting on Monday to determine whether to formally remove him from office or reinstate him. If Mr Yoon is dismissed, an election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.

Mr Yoon has justified his martial law enforcement as a necessary act of governance against an opposition he described as “anti-state forces” bogging down his agendas and vowed to “fight to the end” against efforts to remove him from office.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters have poured onto the streets of the country’s capital, Seoul, in recent days, calling for the president’s removal and arrest.

It remains unclear whether Mr Yoon will grant the request by investigators for an interview.

South Korean prosecutors, who are pushing a separate investigation into the incident, also reportedly asked Mr Yoon to appear at a prosecution office for questioning on Sunday but he refused to do so. Repeated calls to a prosecutors’ office in Seoul were unanswered.

The request came before the Constitutional Court meets to discuss the case on Monday.

The court has up to 180 days to rule, but observers say a court ruling could come faster.

In the case of parliamentary impeachments of past presidents — Roh Moo-hyun in 2004 and Park Geun-hye in 2016 — the court spent 63 days and 91 days respectively before determining to reinstate Mr Roh and dismiss Mr Park.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who will serve as the country’s acting leader while Mr Yoon’s powers are suspended, and other government officials have sought to reassure allies and markets after Mr Yoon’s surprise decree paralysed politics, halted high-level diplomacy and complicated efforts to revive a faltering economy.

Liberal opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, whose Democratic Party holds a majority in the National Assembly, urged the Constitutional Court to rule swiftly on the impeachment and proposed a special council for policy cooperation between the government and parliament.