South Korea: Arrest warrant sought against former PM Han Duck-soo in martial law probe

Seoul, Aug 24 (IANS) A special counsel team on Sunday filed for a court warrant to arrest South Korea's former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo over his alleged involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched attempt to impose martial law.

Special Counsel Cho Eun-suk's team filed the request for the writ on charges of aiding Yoon's efforts to impose the martial law decree on December 3 last year, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Han is accused of not having stopped Yoon's martial law declaration as the second-in-command to the former President. Cho's team suspects Han aided Yoon's attempt as a key accomplice.

He is suspected of being involved in Yoon's move to draft and destroy a revised version of the decree after martial law was lifted. He is also accused of lying under oath when he testified at the National Assembly in February.

The special counsel team said it filed for the arrest warrant against Han, citing his failure to prevent the imposition of martial law.

"A Prime Minister is the sole public servant appointed by a President, playing a role in assisting in the task of upholding the Constitution as the No. 1 state institution," assistant special counsel Park Ji-young said during a press briefing.

"Han was the top constitutional institution that could have prevented the imposition of the unconstitutional and unlawful martial law in advance," she said.

A court hearing to review the warrant is expected to take place on Tuesday or Wednesday.

Han was among the six Cabinet members Yoon called in to share his plans to impose martial law. He also took part in a Cabinet meeting that reviewed the decree before its declaration and another one that lifted it the next day.

At the time, Han said he was not aware of the martial law decree until the Cabinet meeting that lifted martial law, claiming that he later realised a copy of the decree was in his pocket.

Last week, Han told Cho's team that he received the decree from Yoon, reversing his previous testimony.

--IANS

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