Seoul, Aug 5 South Korean National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik will appear before Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk's team at 10 a.m. Thursday to be questioned as a witness about former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law declaration, the team announced on Tuesday.
The special counsel has asked for cooperation in questioning Woo as a victim and the head of the organisation that lifted the unlawful martial law and he has agreed to appear in person this Thursday, the team said.
Woo is expected to be asked whether the conservative People Power Party (PPP) systematically obstructed the National Assembly's vote during the process of lifting the martial law.
Following Yoon's martial law imposition on the night of December 3 last year, the 300-member National Assembly passed a resolution in the wee hours of December 4 demanding that Yoon lift the martial law. All 190 lawmakers present voted in favour. Under the Constitution, martial law must be lifted when a parliamentary majority demands it, Yonhap news agency reported.
Woo presided over the special parliamentary session on December 4 and managed the National Assembly for about 155 minutes until the resolution was passed.
The special counsel team suspects that the PPP leadership may have changed the meeting places of party lawmakers several times to obstruct them from participating in the Assembly vote at that time under an instruction from Yoon.
The team also said it has asked PPP lawmaker Cho Kyung-tae to appear at its office next Monday to be questioned as a witness.
Earlier in the day, South Korea's special counsel team has said it has no plans to make a second attempt at detaining jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol until Wednesday.
Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team, which is investigating various corruption allegations involving Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee, said the decision follows Yoon's appointment of a lawyer.
"We plan to discuss the schedule and method of questioning with the lawyer, and therefore have no plans to execute the detention warrant today or tomorrow," the team said in a notice to the press on Tuesday.
The former president has reportedly appointed Bae Bo-yoon, a former Constitutional Court spokesperson, as his legal representative.
Min's team has sought to bring in Yoon for questioning over allegations he and his wife meddled in candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.
Yoon, who is in custody over his failed attempt to impose martial law in December, snubbed two summonses last week and refused to comply with the team's execution of a detention warrant on Friday.
The warrant is set to expire Thursday, but the team has indicated it will apply for a new warrant if necessary.
Yoon's wife has been summoned to appear for questioning on Wednesday.
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