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(Left) Yoon Suk-yeol, the former president suspected of leading an insurrection, departs from the Seoul Central District Court on July 9, 2025, after appearing before a judge reviewing a request for a warrant for his detention. (Right) A handwritten letter from Yoon to Morse Tan, an election denier. (pool photo; from the Facebook of Min Kyung-wook)

On Thursday, disgraced former President Yoon Suk-yeol once again refused to appear for his trial on charges of leading an insurrection. That was the second time he’d failed to show up at court, following an earlier hearing on July 10.

On two separate occasions, Yoon, who is being detained at the Seoul Detention Center, rejected a summons to appear for questioning by the special counsel investigating the insurrection and then adamantly refused to cooperate with jail authorities who had been ordered to produce him.

Yoon’s actions to date suggest that he means to manipulate legal procedures in both his trial and investigation to serve his interest. Tolerating such behavior would bring about the collapse of our entire system of criminal law — and not only Yoon himself, but the courts and law enforcement bodies would bear the blame.

None of Yoon’s excuses for being a no-show at court hearings and interrogations hold any water.

“He’s very weak, and his health is failing. He’s so dizzy that he even struggles to climb the steps to the interview room. It’s hard for him to sit in the courtroom all day long,” Yoon’s attorneys claimed, but failed to submit any objective evidence to support that assertion.

Furthermore, Yoon agreed to attend a hearing to review the legality of his arrest at the Seoul Central District Court on Friday — which tends to undermine his claims about failing health.

Yoon is apparently determined to engage with the procedures that serve his interests and reject the ones that don’t.

On top of that, Yoon is picking fault with the special counsel team for maintaining the charges originally filed by the prosecutors who had previously handled the case. Yoon adamantly refuses to attend any hearings unless the special counsel team is removed from the case. But maintaining those charges is consistent with the Act on the Appointment of Independent Prosecutors.

Even the court itself informed Yoon that if he wants to dispute the constitutionality of the special counsel team’s actions, he needs to cite another law. It’s preposterous for Yoon to treat a matter that’s supposed to be handled through separate legal procedures as an excuse for not appearing in court.

A criminal defendant’s appearance in court is both a right and a duty. The basic reason that defendants are detained is to guarantee that they appear in court.

It was only natural for the special counsel team to ask the court to extend Yoon’s arrest warrant by the number of days he has repeatedly failed to attend hearings. But the court only asked Yoon’s legal team to do its best to “persuade” him to appear in court. Sterner measures are needed.

Yoon wrote a letter from jail criticizing the special counsel team for thwarting his planned meeting on Wednesday with Liberty University professor Morse Tan, who has been propagating conspiracy theories about election-rigging. There are shocking passages in the former president’s letter that suggest a disturbed mental state in which he is unaware of the crimes he committed or the situation he faces.

Yoon’s only thought seems to be playing legal hardball and appealing to far-right groups so he can avoid the consequences. He needs the law, in all its severity, to teach him that his legal tricks will no longer fly.

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]