South Korea: Ex-President Yoon again fails to appear for special counsel questioning

Seoul, July 30 (IANS) Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol again did not appear for questioning by a special counsel Wednesday over a probe into various allegations surrounding his wife, raising the prospects of a detention warrant to bring him in by force.

Yoon, who is under arrest over his martial law attempt in December, was summoned to appear at special counsel Min Joong-ki's office by 10 a.m. to be questioned about his alleged meddling in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

"The reason for his nonappearance today was his health, like before," an aide to Yoon told Yonhap News Agency.

"He has difficulty moving and is even struggling to sit, so it's unlikely he will be able to appear in the future unless his health improves."

Yoon also snubbed the special counsel's earlier summons to appear for questioning Tuesday, citing his deteriorating health.

Min's team warned then that it was considering bringing him in by force with a detention warrant if he failed to show up a second time.

In the event the warrant is issued, the team would consider sending an assistant special counsel and a prosecutor to the Seoul Detention Centre, where Yoon is being held, to physically bring him in.

Yoon has been in custody since July 10, when a court issued a warrant to arrest him over charges related to his martial law attempt.

That warrant was sought by special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team, which is investigating charges of insurrection and other offenses stemming from the decree, Yonhap news agency reported.

Separately, Min's team is tasked with investigating corruption allegations surrounding Yoon's wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee, which include suspicions the couple received free opinion polls from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the 2022 presidential election in exchange for the nomination of former People Power Party Rep. Kim Young-sun for a parliamentary by-election later that year.

Min's team is also investigating whether Yoon violated the election law by making false statements about his wife's suspected involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme during the presidential primaries in 2021.

--IANS

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