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Pablo M. Díez
Martes, 31 de diciembre 2024, 17:50
South Korea's year couldn't end more tumultuously. Amid the shock of the air crash that claimed 179 lives over the weekend, a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant on Tuesday for President Yoon Suk-yeol, ousted by Parliament for declaring martial law on December 3. The political crisis deepens as this is the first time such a measure is taken against a sitting president, albeit suspended from duties.
After being charged with insurrection and abuse of power for attempting to impose martial law, thwarted within hours by Parliament and public mobilization, the Office for the Investigation of High-Ranking Officials has summoned Yoon three times. However, he has refused to appear, arguing through his legal team that the agency lacks jurisdiction over insurrection cases. To resolve the situation, investigators requested an arrest warrant from the Seoul Western District Court on Monday, which was approved on Tuesday, dismissing the defense's arguments.
According to South Korea's state news agency Yonhap, investigators have until next Monday to detain President Yoon. Once arrested, he may be confined in the Seoul Detention Center, located in Uiwang, south of the capital. After the arrest, investigators must decide within 48 hours whether to request another warrant to extend the detention for further questioning or release him. "Various circumstances will be considered, but executing the order is the main priority now that it has been issued," explained an official from the Office for the Investigation of Corruption to the press.
Although the timing of the arrest is uncertain, it seems clear that it will not be easy. To begin with, President Yoon's lawyers have already declared the order "illegal and invalid," filing a constitutional appeal to suspend it. "It is surprising and difficult to accept that an order requested by an agency without investigative authority has been issued," criticized Yun Gap-geun, one of President Yoon's attorneys. In his view, only the police have jurisdiction to investigate him for insurrection. "It is clear that the arrest order is illegal. We regret the court's decision," added the lawyer, as reported by Yonhap.
However, according to the head of the Office for the Investigation of Corruption, Oh Dong-woon, there is no legal way to oppose an arrest order issued by a court. Not even for Yoon Suk-yeol, who has presidential immunity but not for alleged crimes of insurrection and treason, punishable by life imprisonment or even death.
Besides being traumatic, the president's arrest could prove problematic and further deepen South Korea's institutional crisis. Ousted by Parliament on December 14, thanks to twelve deputies from his own party supporting the second no-confidence motion presented by the opposition, Yoon Suk-yeol remains in his residence protected by the Presidential Security Service. In fact, his bodyguards refused last week to allow investigators to search his premises, citing military security reasons.
For now, the Presidential Security Service has announced that it will take appropriate measures to manage the arrest order "in accordance with the legal process." But Yoon has entrenched himself in his position, and his lawyers' rejection of the arrest raises fears of a new clash in South Korea.
With the uncertainty of how and when he will be arrested, President Yoon also awaits the Constitutional Court's decision on his ousting. Within 180 days of its approval by the National Assembly, its judges must decide whether to confirm or reject the dismissal.
But even this legal process is proving controversial because the Constitutional Court's decision requires at least six of its nine judges, and three seats are vacant. Last week, the opposition used its parliamentary majority to approve these appointments. However, the interim president following Yoon's ousting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, refused to confirm them, arguing that it exceeded his functions.
Immediately, the opposition filed another no-confidence motion against him in Parliament, which passed on Friday, also with legal controversy, marking the second ousting of a president in less than two weeks. Succeeding him, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok assumed the acting presidency. Unlike his predecessor, Choi appointed two Constitutional Court judges on Tuesday, one proposed by the opposition and another by his party, to try to resolve the institutional crisis. For the third vacancy, he has asked political forces to reach an agreement.
"I have decided to appoint the Constitutional Court judges due to the need to end political uncertainty and social conflict as soon as possible and to prevent a potential crisis for the economy and citizens' lives," justified the acting president, who has drawn criticism from his own party. "His decision means yielding to the opposition's threats of dismissal in Parliament, sacrificing constitutional principles," denounced the spokesperson for the People Power Party (PPP), Kweon Seong-dong, who does not believe an acting president can make such decisions about the high court.
As the political crisis worsens, South Korea bids farewell to its most tumultuous year, awaiting the president's arrest amid the trauma of Sunday's air disaster. The government began the painful process on Tuesday of handing over the bodies of the 179 victims at Muan Airport to their families. It is an arduous task, as most bodies were left unrecognizable by the aircraft's explosion, requiring multiple identification examinations. So far, authorities have been able to return four bodies to relatives.
Condolences, ceremonies, and memorials multiply in places where the victims lived or worked. Meanwhile, investigators from the United States and Boeing have arrived at the crash site and joined the investigation to determine why the aircraft crashed violently after colliding with a flock of birds, suffering an apparent engine failure, and failing to deploy the landing gear. Officials opened the two black boxes recovered from the wreckage on Tuesday.
The government has begun inspecting all planes of the same type, a Boeing 737-800, owned by South Korean airlines. The regulation regarding the concrete wall at the end of the airport runway, against which the aircraft collided before becoming a fireball, is also under investigation in case it was an illegal construction.
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