Court rejects President Yoon's objection to 'executing arrest warrant'

President Yoon Suk Yeol filed an objection, saying it was illegal to prevent him from applying the "search restriction" rule under the Criminal Procedure Act during the execution of an arrest warrant against him, but it was not accepted.

The Seoul Western District Court today (the 5th) dismissed President Yoon's objection to the high-ranking government official's criminal investigation agency, which is the subject of the arrest and search warrant.

The court first decided that the issuance or dismissal of the search warrant was not subject to a quasi-appeal, and therefore, President Yoon's objection itself was not legal.

He also pointed out that in the case of a search for the discovery of a defendant, not an object, it is reasonable to assume that Article 110 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows the search of places requiring military secrets to be restricted, does not apply in the first place.

He did not accept President Yoon's claim that the warrant judge's refusal to apply the provisions to the execution process of the warrant was an offense and a violation of legislative rights.

At the same time, the court emphasized that the warrant judge did what he could within the jurisdiction of the interpretation of the law, and that it could not be considered unconstitutional acts that violated the legislative power.

Earlier, Lee Soon-hyung, a senior judge in charge of warrants at the Seoul Western District Court, issued a warrant for the arrest and search of President Yoon requested by the Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigations Unit on the 31st of last month, stating that the application of Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act is excluded.

The clause stipulates that the search for places related to military and official secrets is restricted without the consent of the person in charge, and the Presidential Security Service has refused to execute the warrant.

However, as the court was unable to apply the clause and the arrest warrant became possible, President Yoon raised an objection, asking for the execution of the warrant to be disallowed.