(ATTN: UPDATES with official’s remarks in paras 5-7)
SEOUL, Jan. 26 (Yonhap) — Senior prosecutors from across the country held a meeting on Sunday to discuss the next steps in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law case, officials said, as the arrested president’s detention period nears its end.
The meeting presided over by Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung took place a day after a Seoul court rejected the prosecution’s request to extend Yoon’s arrest for the second time. Prosecutors had sought to question Yoon themselves if the request was granted.
Prosecutors now face the choice of indicting Yoon or releasing him without having had an opportunity to directly question Yoon.
By law, a suspect must be released if not indicted within the detention period. Yoon’s detention is set to end on Monday after he was detained on Jan. 15 by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). He was formally arrested on Jan. 19.
Shim is expected to make a decision soon based on the discussions of the meeting.
Park Se-hyun, who leads the prosecution’s special investigation team into the case, told reporters after the meeting that there were various opinions over how to proceed with the case.
“The final decision will be made by the prosecutor general after he hears everything,” he said.
The CIO, which led the investigation into Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law, transferred the case to the prosecution last week as the agency does not have a legal mandate to indict a president.
President Yoon Suk Yeol attends the fourth hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in central Seoul on Jan. 23, 2025. (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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