Arrest Warrant Hearing

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Former president Park Geun-hye has appeared in court for an arrest warrant hearing. She is the first former president in Korea to do so. Here’s more.

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Ex-president Park Geun-hye has appeared in court for her arrest warrant hearing, becoming the first former president in Korea to do so. Former President Park Geun-hye appeared at the Seoul Central District Court on Thursday morning to attend a hearing on her arrest warrant. It's her first public appearance since she was summoned for questioning at the prosecutors' office eight days ago. The hearing on Park's arrest warrant is being held in Room 321 of the Seoul Central District Court. Park was seated in front of Judge Kang Bu-young. Prosecutors and Park's attorneys were seated beside them. The attending prosecutors are Lee One-seok and Han Woong-jae, who personally interrogated the ousted president. Park's attorneys attending the hearing are Yoo Young-ha and Chung Jang-hyun. The prosecutors say Park's arrest warrant is necessary in the interests of fairness toward the alleged accomplices who have already been arrested, and out of concerns over her destruction of evidence. Park's attorneys are expected to argue that the former president is unlikely to flee or destroy evidence, because all the other suspects are already under arrest. Legal experts say that the ousted president decided to attend the hearing in order to assert her innocence in a proactive way. The decision on Park's arrest warrant will likely be made in the early hours of Friday morning. If the court issues an arrest warrant for Park, she will be taken to a detention center. If the arrest warrant is dismissed, she will return to her private residence under escort as a former president.