The Internal Affairs Special Prosecutors requested former President Yoon Suk-yeol to appear for questioning on July 1 after he asked to postpone the appearance scheduled for the 30th.
Park Ji-young, the deputy special prosecutor, said at a briefing on the 29th, "We received the former president's side's opinion regarding the summons schedule, and took into account all circumstances today to notify him to appear at 9 a.m. on July 1."
The special prosecutor issued a notification demanding former President Yoon to appear again at 9 a.m. on the 30th after questioning him as a suspect the previous day. However, the former president's side requested to adjust the appearance date to after July 3, considering health issues and the right to defense in the ongoing trial, noting that they were making sufficient consultations with the suspect and the lawyer regarding the summons.
Deputy Special Prosecutor Park said, "Discussions regarding the (summons schedule) are not agreements," adding, "The decision is made by the investigative body, and after receiving the former president's side's opinion, we determined and notified the appearance date considering the special prosecutor's investigation schedule and various necessities." He further noted, "Tomorrow's investigation is effectively canceled based on the lawyer's opinion, and we believe that health reasons and the need to prepare for the trial are natural, so we have re-notified the schedule for July 1."
In response to reporters' questions about whether the former president's refusal to comply with the summons notification for July 1 could lead to a request for an arrest warrant, he replied, "If the reasons for refusal are not understandable, we have no choice but to proceed according to criminal procedure law." This implies that if the former president's side continues to refuse the summons, they may consider requesting an arrest warrant.
Deputy Special Prosecutor Park also announced that he requested the dispatch of two police officers to the Korean National Police Agency to investigate the 'obstruction of investigation' actions by the former president's legal team the previous day.
He mentioned that the special prosecutor has the authority to direct and supervise public servants dispatched from the deputy special prosecutor and related agencies, according to the provisions of the Internal Affairs Special Prosecutors Act, stating, "The dispatched judicial police officers can perform their duties under the direction of the special prosecutor." He added, "This has been established through precedents in cases such as the Choi Soon-sil National Affairs scandal special prosecution case, and I believe it is natural for dispatched police to participate in searches, so saying that they cannot conduct investigations as part of the investigation method is logically contradictory."
The former president's side refused to answer questions regarding allegations of obstruction of arrest by Park Chang-hwan, head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Division of the Korean National Police Agency, during the investigation the previous day, and issued a statement today claiming, "Interrogation by judicial police officers violates criminal procedure law," responding to this.
Deputy Special Prosecutor Park stated, "As I have said repeatedly, Chief Park has had no involvement in executing the arrest warrant against former President Yoon," adding, "As the police have clarified, Chief Park executed arrest warrants against Kim Seong-hoon, the former deputy head of the presidential guard, and directly presented the arrest warrant to lawyer Song Jin-ho, who represents former President Yoon, at the scene."
He added, "The legal team is making claims contrary to the facts, as if there has been no refusal to comply with police summons even when the special prosecutor applies for an arrest warrant, and this can be evaluated as an obstruction of investigation act defined by the Special Prosecutors Act. We will no longer tolerate this."