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The investigators probing South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol over charges of insurrection saught to extend his detention on Friday as the leader refused to cooperate with questioning.
Mr Yoon became South Korea’s first incumbent president to be arrested after he was charged with insurrection for declaring martial law last month in a move that thrust the country into political turmoil. He was impeached by the National Assembly over his short-lived martial law declaration on the night of 3 December and suspended from office.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High Ranking Officials (CIO) will need a court to approve its ongoing detention of Mr Yoon, and has requested another 20 days.
A CIO official said the agency has made the request due to “the gravity of crime”. The request is set to be reviewed on Saturday afternoon by Seoul Western District Court, reported Yonhap news agency.
President Yoon said the jail cell where he is being held was “a little uncomfortable” but he was doing well, according to a statement by his lawyer.
The president thanked hundreds of his supporters who gathered outside the prison in chilly conditions, saying: “I am grateful for the people’s burning patriotism.”
Mr Yoon has exercised his right to remain silent throughout the CIO’s efforts to question him this week, while his party appears to have profited from the country’s growing political polarisation by improving its polling ratings since his arrest.
The approval rating for Mr Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) was 39 per cent in a Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, up from 34 per cent a week ago and overtaking the main opposition Democratic Party for the first time since August which stood at 36 per cent.
Mr Yoon’s lawyers have said that there is no reason for him to sit through further questioning.
“He has fully stated his basic position on the first day (of the arrest), and we believe there is no reason or need to answer the Q&A style back-and-forth,” Mr Yoon’s lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, said in a statement.
On Wednesday, Mr Yoon said he had decided to comply with the arrest warrant but that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country”.
“When I saw them break into the security area using firefighting equipment today, I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation – despite it being an illegal investigation – to prevent unsavoury bloodshed,” he said in a statement.
South Korea is facing its worst political crisis in decades after Mr Yoon’s failed attempt to impose martial law on 3 December. The order was lifted in a matter of hours after soldiers failed to keep National Assembly members from voting it down.
As well as the criminal case against him, Mr Yoon faces a Constitutional Court trial that started this week to decide whether to permanently suspend his powers or return him to office.
