SOUTH KOREA: Impeached president defies Christmas summons

South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol refused a summons to appear for questioning on Christmas Day, the second time he has defied investigators’ demands in a week. Investigators probing Yoon had ordered him to appear for questioning at 10am (GMT 0100) on Wednesday, a demand he rejected. Yoon, a former prosecutor, also failed to […]

SOUTH KOREA: Impeached president defies Christmas summons

South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol refused a summons to appear for questioning on Christmas Day, the second time he has defied investigators’ demands in a week.

Investigators probing Yoon had ordered him to appear for questioning at 10am (GMT 0100) on Wednesday, a demand he rejected.

Yoon, a former prosecutor, also failed to attend a hearing he was summoned to last Wednesday, giving no explanation for his absence.

The conservative leader was stripped of his duties by parliament on December 14, following a short-lived martial law declaration that plunged the country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Yoon faces impeachment and criminal charges of insurrection, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty, in a drama that has shocked democratic South Korea’s allies around the world.

The Corruption Investigation Office is expected to decide in the coming days whether to issue a third summons or ask a court to grant an arrest warrant to compel Yoon to appear for questioning.