Court's arrest warrant confirms Corruption Office's authority

[Anchor]

President Yoon has previously refused to comply with summons requests, asserting that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) does not have the authority to investigate charges of insurrection.

However, with the court issuing an arrest warrant, there are interpretations that the court has effectively recognized the CIO's authority to investigate insurrection.

Reporter Park Young-min has the details.

[Report]

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has made three requests for President Yoon Suk Yeol to appear, but he has not complied.

The reason for his non-compliance is that he believes the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials does not have the authority to investigate 'insurrection.'

[Yoon Gap-geun/Yoon Suk Yeol's legal representative: "The joint investigation team itself is an arbitrary organization without legal basis; to put it harshly, it is an illegal organization. In a normal judicial system, the police with investigative authority would conduct the investigation…."]

In fact, insurrection is not included in the list of crimes that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials can directly investigate.

Only the police can investigate insurrection.

However, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials has continued its investigation, believing that the allegations of insurrection against President Yoon fall under 'related crimes' of abuse of power.

Despite this controversy, the court's issuance of an arrest warrant suggests that it has determined the investigation and the request for the arrest warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials are not illegal.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials also stated that "the issuance of the arrest warrant itself is seen as the court's judgment on the authority to investigate insurrection."

[Kim Kyung-soo/KBS advisory lawyer: "This acknowledges that the investigation so far has been lawful and that the three summonses themselves were also lawful. The court has also recognized that securing the suspect's physical presence is necessary to achieve the purpose of the investigation."]

While the issuance of the arrest warrant has resolved the controversy over investigative authority for now, further disputes are expected during the trial process concerning President Yoon.

This is KBS News, Park Young-min.