January 10, 2025
SEOUL – President Yoon Suk Yeol’s lawyers said Thursday they had filed for an injunction with the Constitutional Court that same day against a district court-approved warrant to detain the president.
Yoon Kab-keun, one of Yoon’s legal representatives, insisted that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) does not have the authority to conduct an investigation over the alleged insurrection charges of the suspended president. The CIO leads the joint investigation team, which includes the National Office of Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Command of the Defense Ministry.
“We previously filed the competence dispute against the initial warrant, but we filed it once again for the extended warrant,” President Yoon’s attorney told reporters in a press conference held at an office in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul, on Thursday.
Yoon’s legal team claimed that his defiance of the CIO’s warrant execution was aimed at “safeguarding” the continuity of South Korea’s Constitution, arguing that the agency’s persistent efforts to detain him were a highly “politicized” move.
“The president refuses to follow the CIO’s legal measure, because he believes the CIO does not have the authority to investigate the president. It’s not because Yoon ignores the law,” Seok Dong-hyeon, a known confidant of Yoon and a lawyer who wished to be identified as the president’s aide, said.