Court grants forcible summons as detained Yoon refuses to cooperate in wife's probe

Special counsel team to visit detention center at 9 a.m. Friday to bring him in for questioning

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, for a warrant review hearing on July 9. (Yonhap)

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, already in custody over the martial law fiasco, is now facing another arrest warrant, this time to force him to appear for questioning in an investigation into his wife, Kim Keon Hee.

The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday approved the warrant after Yoon failed to appear for questioning on both Tuesday and Wednesday without providing a valid reason. He is currently being held at the Seoul Detention Center.

In response to the former president's refusal to cooperate, special prosecutor Min Jung-ki requested that the court authorize Yoon's arrest. Following the court’s decision, investigators announced they will visit the detention center at 9 a.m. on Friday to bring him in for questioning.

Yoon is accused of accepting free polling services during the 2022 presidential election campaign from pollster Myung Tae-gyun. In return, prosecutors allege, he helped Kim Young-sun, a former five-term lawmaker from the then-ruling People Power Party, secure a nomination during the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

Meanwhile, Kim Hyun-woo, head of the Seoul Detention Center, addressed Yoon’s claims of poor health, which he cited as a reason for missing the previous two rounds of questioning, on Thursday.

Speaking during a meeting with members of the Democratic Party of Korea, Kim told lawmakers that Yoon’s condition was not serious enough to prevent him from participating in legal proceedings.

"Based on our observations, there appears to be no major issue preventing him from undergoing questioning or attending trial," a medical officer at the detention center added.

According to the special counsel team, Yoon failed to submit any medical documentation to justify his failure to comply with summonses.

However, Yoon’s legal team said Thursday that he is unable to undergo questioning due to several underlying health conditions. They stated that medical certificates, doctors’ notes and copies of his medical records have been submitted to the Seoul Detention Center.

They also said a diagnosis from a university hospital warned of a growing risk of vision loss, as Yoon has missed his regular eye treatments for the past three months.