South Korea: Court to hold arrest warrant hearing for ex-PM Han on August 27

Seoul, Aug 25 (IANS) A hearing will be held this week to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant for South Korea's former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo over his alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched imposition of martial law, a court said on Monday.

The Seoul Central District Court said it has scheduled the hearing for 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 27, after special counsel Cho Eun-suk requested a warrant to arrest Han on charges that include abetting the ringleader of an insurrection, falsifying and destroying official documents, and committing perjury, Yonhap News Agency reported.

Han is accused of abetting Yoon's short-lived martial law imposition in December by proposing a Cabinet meeting before the decree's declaration and drafting and later destroying a revised proclamation intended to enhance the legitimacy of the decree.

In addition, the former Prime Minister is suspected of lying under oath at the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly that he was not aware of the existence of a copy of the martial law declaration until after the decree was lifted.

On Sunday, a special counsel team filed for a court warrant to arrest Han.

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.

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.

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.

--IANS

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