August 8, 2025
SEOUL – Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, currently detained on insurrection charges, physically resisted being taken in for questioning by the special counsel investigating his wife on Thursday, as the probe team sought an arrest warrant for former first lady Kim Keon Hee.
Citing concerns over potential injuries, the special counsel withdrew from the Seoul Detention Center, where Yoon is held, saying his resistance made it difficult to proceed. Their court-issued warrant for Yoon’s detention was set to expire that day.
The same team said Thursday it sought a warrant to detain Yoon’s wife, just a day after it summoned her for questioning as a suspect. The warrant request, submitted early Thursday afternoon, followed her interrogation on five key allegations the previous day, including suspected violations of the Political Funds Act and the Capital Markets Act, as well as bribery and influence peddling.
If the court issues a detention warrant, Yoon and Kim will be the first former presidential couple to be detained by an investigative agency.
The special counsel team reportedly planned to question the former president over alleged election interference involving pollster Myung Tae-kyun and former first lady Kim.
Myung allegedly asked Yoon, who was president-elect at the time, to help ensure former People Power Party lawmaker Kim Young-sun’s nomination for the June 2022 by-elections. Myung allegedly conducted deliberately favorable polls for then-presidential candidate Yoon free of charge ahead of the 2022 presidential election. Former first lady Kim is also suspected of interfering in the nomination process.
Thursday’s attempt to bring Yoon in for questioning marked the team’s second effort in the investigation into Kim.
The former president reportedly resisted arrest during the first attempt on Aug. 1 by lying on the floor of his cell and not wearing his prison uniform. At that time, the special counsel team refrained from physical contact for safety reasons, but warned it would follow through on the next attempt “even if it requires the use of physical force.”
Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho previously instructed Seoul Detention Center officials to fully cooperate with the special counsel’s warrant execution, telling them to “ensure strict and fair law enforcement in accordance with law and principle.”
The team said it had tried to execute the warrant starting at 8:25 a.m. Thursday. They were permitted to use measures including physical force, but halted the attempt at 9:40 a.m. due to concerns of “potential on-site injuries.”
Yoon’s legal representatives condemned the special counsel’s actions as a “public humiliation” and claimed that Yoon was injured during the attempted arrest, vowing legal action in response. The special counsel, however, maintained that its actions were fully within the law. Later, the Justice Ministry refuted the claim that Yoon had sustained any injuries.
“If the suspect refuses to testify, the prosecution can decide whether to indict the individual based on the existing evidence and statements. But the special counsel resorts to carrying out a forcible summons by using physical force. This shows that its objective is not investigation, but a public shaming of the former president,” said Bae Ui-cheol, one of Yoon’s attorneys, in a text message sent to reporters.
Bae claimed that the special counsel teams were conducting a one-sided investigation based on a predetermined conclusion without considering any arguments made by Yoon, adding the former president decided not to cooperate with the questioning and to exercise his right to remain silent.
The legal representative also said that the arrest warrant against Yoon should have been dismissed by the court. He referred to the Regulations on Criminal Procedure, which stipulate that a warrant must be denied if there is no need for an arrest. He said that was the case here, as the former president was already in detention.
With the court-issued warrant set to expire later on Thursday, the special counsel team is expected to consider whether to change tactics and attempt on-site questioning, apply for a new arrest warrant or indict Yoon without questioning him.
The former president has not appeared in public since being taken into custody at the Seoul Detention Center on July 10.
sj_lee@heraldcorp.com