Yoon unlikely to appear for questioning Wednesday: lawyer

Seoul, Dec 24 South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is unlikely to appear for questioning this week as requested by the investigation team handling the martial law case, his lawyer said Tuesday.

The probe team is seeking to question Yoon in person over his alleged involvement in the botched December 3 martial law imposition, on charges of insurrection and abuse of power, and has asked him to appear for questioning Wednesday.

Seok Dong-hyeon, Yoon's lawyer, said Yoon places priority on the Constitutional Court proceedings on his impeachment and that he plans to issue a statement on his position on the trial after Christmas Day.

"We see it as unlikely that he will be able to attend tomorrow," Seok told reporters, Yonhap news agency reported.

"The president thinks that the Constitutional Court's impeachment trial procedure should take precedence, as the National Assembly has initiated the impeachment process," he said.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) has sent summons to Yoon's side twice, seeking his presence to undergo the interrogation as part of its probe into Yoon's brief martial law order.

Yoon did not comply with the first summons, which had requested that he show up last Wednesday.

Despite the remarks by Yoon's lawyer that the president is likely to skip Wednesday's questioning, CIO chief Oh Dong-woon again urged Yoon to show up.

"We are anticipating that the president will make time to appear at the CIO by tomorrow," Oh told lawmakers in a plenary session of the parliamentary legislation and judiciary committee, adding CIO officials are willing to wait past the 10 am start time for the questioning session.

When asked whether the CIO plans to seek a warrant to formally arrest Yoon, Oh said nothing has been decided but added that the office will take following steps in consideration of the urgency and gravity of the issue.