Seoul: Former President Yoon Suk Yeol's legal team announced on Thursday that he wishes to appear privately at Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk's office at 10 a.m. on Saturday for questioning related to charges concerning the December 3 martial law imposition.
According to Yonhap News Agency, earlier this week, Cho's team had instructed Yoon to appear publicly at the Seoul High Prosecutors Office in southern Seoul at 9 a.m. on Saturday as a suspect. This summons came after a court denied the special counsel's request for a detention warrant against Yoon.
Yoon's lawyers have requested that his appearance be private and delayed by an hour to 10 a.m. "An open and humiliating summoning is not an investigation but a political act," they stated in a press release. They criticized the special counsel's office for not consulting on the time and place of the questioning and for failing to inform them about the prosecutor in charge of the case.
The legal team highlighted a precedent where former Justice Minister Cho Kuk was allowed a closed-door appearance. The special counsel's office aims to investigate Yoon on allegations that he ordered the Presidential Security Service to prevent the execution of a detention warrant against him by the state anti-corruption investigation agency in early January and to erase his phone records with military commanders over the December 3 martial law imposition.
The Seoul Central District Court dismissed the special counsel's request to detain Yoon on Wednesday.