A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for impeached, suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol, investigators said Tuesday, over his brief attempt to impose a state of emergency.
Yoon briefly suspended civilian rule this month, plunging South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.
The parliament stripped him of his presidential duties for the action, but the Constitutional Court is awaiting a ruling on whether to uphold the impeachment.
“The arrest and search warrants for President Yoon Suk-yeol, requested by the Joint Investigation Team, were issued this morning,” the Joint Investigation Team said in a statement.
The conservative leader faces criminal charges of sedition, which could carry a life sentence or even the death penalty.
Investigators investigating Yoon over his declaration of a state of emergency requested the warrant on Monday after the suspended president failed to appear for questioning for a third time.
“The reason for the warrant is that there is a concern that the individual may refuse to comply with the summons without reasonable cause and there are sufficient probable grounds to suspect the commission of a criminal offence,” an official from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday.
