Anchor: An attempt to arrest former President Yoon Suk Yeol has fallen through due to his adamant refusal to leave his cell at the detention center where he is in custody over the December 3 martial law incident. But the special counsel team handling the case of former first lady Kim Keon-hee says the arrest will go ahead next time, even if it means using physical force. 
Choi You Sun reports.

Report: A special counsel team has failed to execute a warrant to arrest former President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning about allegations against former first lady Kim Keon-hee.

Assistant counselor Moon Hong-joo and investigators arrived at the Seoul Detention Center, where Yoon is currently being detained over his December 3 martial law bid, around 9 a.m. Friday.

But around 11 a.m. the special team abandoned its attempt to arrest the former president, saying it could not be done as he obstinately refused to cooperate.

The team’s assistant counselor Oh Jung-hee later told reporters in a briefing that Yoon resisted while lying on the floor in his undergarments, and that the team plans to execute the warrant using physical force if necessary. 

The attempt to bring Yoon in by force comes after the special counsel sent two summonses and he ignored them both, failing to appear for questioning over allegations that he intervened in nominations for the then-ruling People Power Party ahead of a by-election in 2022.

The team is grilling power broker Myung Tae-kyun for a second straight day over suspicions that his polling firm worked for Yoon free of charge ahead of the 2022 presidential race, conducting 81 favorable surveys in exchange for Yoon’s influence in securing the party’s nomination for former Rep. Kim Young-sun.

On Friday the investigators also targeted Kim Ye-seong, the former first lady’s aide, raiding several locations on allegations that the aide secured investments from businesses under suspicious circumstances.

Meanwhile, the interrogation of Cho Hyun-sang, vice chairman of one of the companies, HS Hyosung, has been postponed from Friday to Monday.

Kim Ye-seong is suspected of receiving investments worth 18-point-four billion won, or around 13-point-one million U.S. dollars, from corporations and financial companies in 2023, despite his car rental company posting cumulative losses of 34-point-six billion won.
Choi You Sun, KBS World Radio News.