South Korean Police Indict President Yoon For Blocking Detention

JAKARTA - South Korean police charged the impeached President, Yoon Suk Yeol, on suspicion of obstructing the implementation of a warrant for his detention last month.

Yoon allegedly instructed the Presidential Security Service (PSS) to hinder investigators' efforts to detain him for the brief imposition of a military emergency.

Police reportedly secured Yoon's exchanged text message with PSS Deputy Head, Kim Seong-hoon, via US-based messaging app Signal, on January 3, while investigators tried and eventually failed to arrest him at his residence.

As reported by ANTARA from Yonhap - OANA, Friday, February 21, Yoon also gave instructions to hinder the second attempt to hold him in a message exchanged with Kim on January 7, according to sources.

However, investigators were successful in their second attempt on January 15, and since then Yoon has been detained at the detention center.

He has attended a trial at the Constitutional Court regarding the validity of his impeachment and a separate criminal trial related to allegations of rebellion regarding the declaration of martial law last December.

As president in office, Yoon is immune from prosecution except in cases of insurgency, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment or the death penalty.