hankyoreh

Yoon Suk-yeol, the former president of South Korea, arrives at the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office on July 5, 2025, for questioning in the special counsel probe of his martial law declaration last year. (Kim Tae-hyeong/Hankyoreh)

The special counsel team investigating last year’s martial law crisis filed for a warrant to detain former President Yoon Suk-yeol on Sunday. The request covers a litany of allegations against Yoon, including those regarding illegal procedures undertaken in the lead-up to and aftermath of his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3. 

The request appears to reflect the special counsel's determination to put Yoon behind bars. Once Yoon is in detention, the team of independent prosecutors is expected to zero in its investigation on suspicions that the martial law crisis amounted to treason — an area which public prosecutors, the police, and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) have not been able to pursue. 

The suspicions listed in the warrant request indicate that the special counsel team is confident that the warrant will come through. 

The team began its official investigation on June 24; just five days later, it filed for an arrest warrant for Yoon for allegedly ordering the Presidential Security Service (PSS) to block the police and the CIO from executing an arrest warrant on Jan. 3, and for having phone records tied to secure lines used to speak with Kwak Jong-geun, the former commander Special Warfare Command, and others after Yoon declared martial law. 

After a court rejected the request for an arrest warrant, the special counsel team seems to have regrouped by targeting the illegal procedures undertaken during martial law and including a number of related allegations in its recent request for a detention warrant. 

In its request, the team includes allegations that Yoon interfered with the ability of his Cabinet to hold a proper review of martial law measures by excluding all but 11 Cabinet members, the minimum quorum for a review, in an official notice calling for Cabinet members to convene (abuse of authority). It also lays out allegations that Yoon ordered the drafting of a written martial law declaration after the fact to retroactively hide the illegal nature of the declaration of martial law (falsification of documents). 

The special counsel seems to have concluded that the court is likely to be more particular when it comes to issuing a writ of detention, as opposed to an arrest warrant, which explains the inclusion of additional allegations in the detention warrant request. 

The special counsel team also cited the gravity of the implicated crimes, the risk of recidivism, and concerns about Yoon fleeing in its request for a detention warrant. 

Yoon has considerable influence, considering his status as a former president. Some observers say this is why the special counsel team is acting to put Yoon behind bars.  

However, the team of independent investigators did not include treason among the many allegations listed in its request for Yoon's detention. Yoon is alleged to have attempted to justify his martial law declaration by deliberately raising inter-Korean tensions by sending drones into North Korean airspace multiple times. 

The special counsel team seeks to distinguish itself from prior investigations led by the police and public prosecutors, who failed to explore treason allegations, by separating the insurrection suspicions from treason suspicions. 

So far, the special counsel team has questioned researchers with the Agency for Defense Development's Korea Institute of Aviation Safety Technology, which provided drones to the Drone Operations Command. 

"Regarding suspicions of treason, it's difficult to give specific figures at the moment, but a significant number of people within the military have been questioned,” said Park Ji-yeong, a deputy special counsel on the team tasked with the team's communications, on Friday. 

While the team appears confident in its progress investigating treason allegations, it appears to have refrained from including such suspicions in its request for a detention warrant out of concern for the possibility of the court rejecting the request. 

"It's important for the warrant to come through, so it seems the special counsel decided to reduce the number of variables,” a senior prosecutor told the Hankyoreh. 

"However, the special counsel team will obviously try to indict Yoon, so treason allegations may come up later." 

The special counsel team will likely work to shed light on the allegations of treason once it succeeds in putting Yoon behind bars. The team may also have opted to leave treason out of its detention warrant request due to the risk of classified military information and investigative details being leaked. 

By Kim Ji-eun, staff reporter

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