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Yoon Suk-yeol, former president, enters the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, on July 9 to attend a pre-trial detention hearing. / Source: Joint Press Corps

The special counsel team investigating Kim Keon-hee attempted to execute an arrest warrant against former President Yoon Suk-yeol on August 1 at Seoul Detention Center but failed due to his refusal to comply.

According to the team, Special Counsel Moon Hong-joo, accompanied by a prosecutor and an investigator, arrived at the detention center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, at around 8:30 a.m. to enforce the warrant. However, the process was halted when Yoon adamantly rejected it.

The special counsel had planned to arrest Yoon at his cell with the assistance of detention officers, but it was reportedly deemed impractical for the officers to forcibly remove him. “We were unable to complete the execution due to the subject’s strong refusal,” the team stated.

The warrant remains valid until August 7, and the special counsel is expected to make another attempt within that period.

Moon said in a briefing the previous day, “Detention officers are the ones who actually carry out the warrant, and we were planning to proceed with their assistance. We have not been notified of any health concerns regarding Yoon, and based on our checks, there appear to be no major issues.”

Yoon’s legal team has yet to submit a power of attorney to the special counsel or file an opinion on the arrest warrant with the Seoul Central District Court.

Yoon has been detained at Seoul Detention Center since July 10 after being arrested by Special Counsel Cho Eun-seok’s team on charges of insurrection.

This is the second time an arrest warrant has been issued for Yoon. In January, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), then investigating him on insurrection leader charges, successfully secured his custody on their second attempt while he was still in office as president.