Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared before a special prosecutor on Saturday, responding to a high-profile investigation into his controversial and failed attempt to impose martial law last December.
Yoon arrived at the Seoul High Prosecutor’s Office amid heavy media presence but declined to comment. His legal team has criticized the public summons as a tactic to shame him and undermine his rights, labeling the investigation as politically driven and full of distortions.
The probe centers on Yoon’s botched December 3 martial law declaration—a move that stunned a nation with strong democratic foundations since its military dictatorship ended in the 1980s. The scandal led to Yoon’s impeachment by Parliament, which the Constitutional Court upheld in April, resulting in his removal from office.
While Yoon had initially refused to cooperate, leading the special prosecutor to request an arrest warrant, a court denied it this week after Yoon signaled a willingness to participate. The special prosecutor’s office, formed earlier this month, has mobilized over 200 legal personnel to handle various cases tied to the former president, who was once South Korea’s chief prosecutor and was elected president in 2022.
Yoon is already standing trial over the martial law incident. He was previously arrested in January following a standoff with law enforcement, though he was released after 52 days due to legal technicalities.