President Yoon's arrest warrant issued: A first in constitutional history

[Anchor]

An arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol was issued today (12.31).

He is accused of being the leader of an insurrection.

This is also the first time in South Korea's constitutional history that an arrest warrant has been issued for a sitting president.

First, reporter Yeo So-yeon reports.

[Report]

The joint investigation team, which includes the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials(CIO) and the police, announced around 9:30 AM today that an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol has been issued.

This comes 33 hours after the joint team requested the arrest warrant from the Seoul Western District Court.

It is the first time in our constitutional history that an arrest warrant has been issued for a sitting president.

The arrest warrant for President Yoon specifies the charge of 'leader of an insurrection'.

The court issued the warrant on the grounds that "he did not respond to the investigation agency's request to appear without justifiable reason" and "there is substantial reason to suspect that he has committed a crime".

So far, it has been acknowledged that he did not respond to the CIO' requests to appear three times without justifiable reason, and that there are circumstances that raise suspicion of insurrection against President Yoon.

The court also did not accept the argument from President Yoon's side that "the request for an arrest warrant is illegal because the CIO does not have the authority to investigate insurrection".

After the warrant was issued, President Yoon's side stated that "it is difficult to accept".

The joint team stated that they would carefully review various situations to decide on the method and timing of executing the arrest warrant.

This is KBS News, Yeo So-yeon.