South Korea: Ex-President Yoon fails again to appear for questioning over martial law

Seoul, July 14 Arrested former President Yoon Suk Yeol again refused to appear for questioning by a special counsel team Monday over his failed martial law bid.

Yoon, who has been held at the Seoul Detention Centre since his second arrest last Thursday, had been asked to appear at the special counsel's office for questioning at 2 pm.

"In regard to today's summons, we submitted a statement of absence last time, and as far as we know, there has been no change in the circumstances," Yoon's legal team told Yonhap News Agency.

He was initially summoned for questioning scheduled for Friday afternoon but did not appear after submitting a written reason for absence to special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team, citing health problems..

The special counsel team, however, confirmed through officials at the correctional facility that Yoon has no health issue serious enough to prevent him from attending the questioning.

The team is likely to head to the Seoul Detention Centre later in the day to bring him in by force, according to observers.

Yoon was taken into custody early Thursday after a court issued a warrant to arrest him over five key charges, including his alleged violation of the rights of Cabinet members by calling only a select few to a meeting held shortly before he declared martial law on December 3.

Cho's team also accused the former President of creating a false martial law declaration document after December 3 to add legitimacy to his actions, and having it signed by then Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and then Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun before discarding it, Yonhap news agency reported.

In addition, Yoon is accused of instructing the presidential spokesperson for foreign press to distribute false statements after the martial law attempt, ordering the Presidential Security Service (PSS) to block his detention by investigators in early January and ordering the PSS to delete call records from secure phones used by three military commanders.

This is the second time Yoon has been arrested.

The first time was in January when he was still in office, but a court later accepted his request to cancel his arrest, granting his release in March.

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