South Korea’s Yoon Defies Second Agency Summons over Martial Law

This handout from the South Korean Presidential Office taken on December 3, 2024 shows South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering a speech to declare martial law in Seoul. (Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)
This handout from the South Korean Presidential Office taken on December 3, 2024 shows South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering a speech to declare martial law in Seoul. (Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)
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South Korea’s Yoon Defies Second Agency Summons over Martial Law

This handout from the South Korean Presidential Office taken on December 3, 2024 shows South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering a speech to declare martial law in Seoul. (Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)
This handout from the South Korean Presidential Office taken on December 3, 2024 shows South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol delivering a speech to declare martial law in Seoul. (Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)

South Korea's suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol did not respond on Wednesday to a second summons by anti-corruption authorities who, along with prosecutors, are investigating his short-lived martial law decree issued early this month.

Yoon had not appeared for questioning as of 10 a.m. (0100 GMT) on Christmas Day as requested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, after ignoring their first summons last week.

An agency official said it would continue waiting for Yoon on Wednesday, adding it would need to review the case further before seeking an arrest warrant, Yonhap news agency reported.

Yoon also did not respond on Dec. 15 to a separate summons by prosecutors who are investigating the martial law declaration, Yonhap said.

Yoon's repeated defiance of the summons and failures to appear for questioning have sparked criticism and calls from the opposition for his arrest, citing concerns over potential destruction of evidence.

In a televised address on Dec. 7, four days after the martial law declaration, Yoon said he would not evade legal and political responsibility for his actions.

Yoon was impeached by parliament on Dec. 14 over his brief imposition of martial law and must now face a Constitutional Court trial on whether to remove him from office or restore his presidential powers.

Prosecutors, the police and the corruption investigation office have all launched probes into Yoon and other officials, seeking to pursue charges of insurrection, abuse of power or other crimes.

Insurrection is one of the few charges for which a South Korean president does not have immunity.

A lawyer advising Yoon has said he is willing to present his views in person during legal proceedings related to the martial law declaration.



Russian Region Declares Emergency Situation as Black Sea Oil Spill Fallout Widens

A volunteer works to clear spilled oil on the coastline following an incident involving two tankers damaged in a storm in the Kerch Strait, in the settlement of Blagoveshchenskaya near the Black Sea resort of Anapa in the Krasnodar region, Russia December 21, 2024. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo
A volunteer works to clear spilled oil on the coastline following an incident involving two tankers damaged in a storm in the Kerch Strait, in the settlement of Blagoveshchenskaya near the Black Sea resort of Anapa in the Krasnodar region, Russia December 21, 2024. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo
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Russian Region Declares Emergency Situation as Black Sea Oil Spill Fallout Widens

A volunteer works to clear spilled oil on the coastline following an incident involving two tankers damaged in a storm in the Kerch Strait, in the settlement of Blagoveshchenskaya near the Black Sea resort of Anapa in the Krasnodar region, Russia December 21, 2024. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo
A volunteer works to clear spilled oil on the coastline following an incident involving two tankers damaged in a storm in the Kerch Strait, in the settlement of Blagoveshchenskaya near the Black Sea resort of Anapa in the Krasnodar region, Russia December 21, 2024. REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov/File Photo

Authorities in Russia's southern Krasnodar region on Wednesday declared a region-wide emergency, saying that oil was still washing up on the coastline 10 days after two ageing tankers ran into trouble.

The oil is from the tankers which were hit by a storm on Dec. 15. One of the vessels split in half, while the other ran aground.

The pollution, which has coated sandy beaches at and around Anapa, a popular summer resort, has caused serious problems for seabirds and everything from dolphins to porpoises and over 10,000 people have been trying to clear it up. according to Reuters.

Veniamin Kondratiev, governor of the Krasnodar region, said in a statement that he had decided to declare a region-wide emergency because oil was still polluting the coastline in the Anapa and Temryuk districts.

He had previously declared a less serious municipal-level emergency.

"Initially, according to the calculations of scientists and specialists, the main mass of fuel oil should have remained at the bottom of the Black Sea, which would have allowed it to be collected in the water," Kondratiev wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

"But the weather dictates its own conditions, the air warms up and oil products rise to the top. As a result, they are being carried to our beaches."

Separately, a crisis centre focused on the clean-up said that the bow of one of the tankers - the Volgoneft-239 - had been discovered underwater and that divers would check whether there was any leak of oil products from it as soon as weather conditions permitted.

In total, more than 256 square kilometres of the coastal area have been surveyed and 25 tons of oil-water sludge collected, the same center said.