South Korea’s anti-corruption agency recommends sedition charges against Yoon Politics news

The Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Bureau says the president sought to “disrupt the constitutional order.”

South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has recommended that President Yeon Suk-yeol be charged with rebellion and abuse of power following an investigation into the ousted president’s short-lived declaration of martial law.

The Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) said on Thursday that it had asked prosecutors to bring charges after finding that Yoon had suspended civil rule “with the intent to exclude state authority or disrupt the constitutional order.”

After the case is referred to the public prosecutor’s office, the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office will have 11 days to decide whether to charge Yoon and send him to trial.

Yoon, who has been suspended from his duties since the National Assembly’s Dec. 14 vote, was arrested at his Seoul residence last week after repeatedly refusing summons to appear for questioning.

His arrest marked the first time in South Korean history that a sitting president had been detained.

Yoon’s lawyers argued that the CIO, who was created in 2021 under Moon’s predecessor Moon Jae-in, had no authority to investigate the president for rebellion and that his arrest was illegal.

Under South Korean law, rebellion is one of the few crimes for which the president is not immune.

The crime is punishable by life imprisonment or the death penalty, although the East Asian country has a long-standing moratorium on executions.

Yoon’s political fate is separately being considered by the Constitutional Court, which has 180 days to decide whether to uphold his impeachment or restore his presidential authority.

During his first appearance before the nine-member court on Tuesday, Yoon denied ordering troops to forcefully remove lawmakers from the National Assembly So they will not be able to vote to repeal his short martial law decree.

Yoon told the court that lawmakers could have met elsewhere to repeal his Dec. 3 decree, which he rescinded within hours after the National Assembly voted unanimously.

Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Choe Sang-mok has served as the country’s acting president since December 27, when lawmakers impeached Yoon’s initial successor, Han Dak-soo, for refusing to immediately fill three vacant positions on the Constitutional Court.