Three veteran lawmakers from the main opposition People Power Party have been booked on charges of obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk Yeol in 2025, officials said Monday.
Special counsel assistant Kwon Young-bin told reporters that the team had booked lawmakers Kim Gi-hyeon, Kwon Young-jin and Yoon Sang-hyun on charges of aggravated obstruction of official duties.
“Through analysis of video evidence taken during the execution of the arrest warrant for former President Yoon in 2025, as well as additional investigation, we confirmed that some lawmakers obstructed the execution of the warrant,” Kwon said.
Kwon added that among the PPP lawmakers whose alleged obstruction had been confirmed, the team booked those who had publicly claimed that the warrant was illegal.
The special counsel team sent summonses to the three lawmakers last Wednesday, requesting that they appear for questioning by Tuesday.
The special counsel had initially dismissed the obstruction allegations against PPP lawmakers on Dec. 9, 2025.
However, the case was reopened on March 26, after courts ruled that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials had acted within its authority in investigating and seeking to arrest Yoon.
The CIO first attempted to arrest Yoon on Jan. 3, 2025, on charges of leading an insurrection following his botched martial law decree. Yoon resisted, claiming the warrant had been issued illegally because the case against him fell outside the CIO’s jurisdiction.
He was eventually arrested on Jan. 15, 2025.
The Seoul Central District Court found in January that the CIO had attempted to arrest Yoon under a legitimate warrant and found the former president guilty in connection with obstructing the warrant’s execution. An appellate court upheld the guilty ruling in April.
Asked whether there had been a physical confrontation during the attempt to arrest Yoon, Kwon said there had been no physical clash, though one person had testified that their clothing was damaged.
“Even so, in many cases involving rallies, protests or the execution of warrants, acts such as forming a human barricade or blocking access have been recognized as obstruction of official duties,” he said. “Based on precedent, we believe there was an obstruction of official duties even though there was no physical fight.”
Kwon said the special counsel team was not considering forcibly bringing in the lawmakers for questioning.
“We will continue requesting their appearance, but with the investigation period set to expire July 24, we plan to review the investigation records near the end of the period and decide whether to indict them,” he said.
The special counsel also said it had earlier booked PPP Rep. Na Kyung-won as a suspect and notified her to appear for questioning on July 19. Na’s office reportedly said she would submit written answers instead.
However, Kwon said Na had not submitted answers as of Monday. He added that no other lawmaker had expressed an intention to respond in writing.
“We are waiting for voluntary appearances or written responses,” Kwon said.
seungku99@heraldcorp.com
