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Yoon Suk-yeol, former president of South Korea, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, Seoul, on June 23 to attend the eighth hearing on charges of leading an insurrection and abuse of power. / Yonhap News

A Seoul court has rejected the arrest warrant requested by the special counsel investigating former President Yoon Suk-yeol in connection with the December 3 martial law incident. The special counsel team announced that Yoon has been summoned for questioning on June 28 and warned that another warrant may be requested if he fails to appear.

On June 25, the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the arrest warrant sought by the special counsel team led by Cho Eun-seok, citing charges of obstructing special official duties.

“The court rejected the warrant because the suspect has expressed willingness to comply with any future summons,” the special counsel’s office said in a press release. “We have issued an official notice requesting former President Yoon to appear at 9 a.m. on June 28.”

The team also warned that failure to appear would prompt a renewed push for an arrest warrant.

The special counsel filed the arrest request just one day after receiving the case from the National Investigation Headquarters’ martial law task force. However, the court’s decision has temporarily derailed the team’s plan to take Yoon into custody for intensive questioning, weakening its early investigative momentum.

Yoon is accused of using presidential security officials, including then-deputy chief Kim Sung-hoon, to obstruct an arrest attempt by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in January.

He is also suspected of ordering Kim on December 7 last year—shortly after the martial law declaration—to “handle the secure phones,” which allegedly led to the deletion of encrypted communication records used by military commanders.