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South Korea Investigators Request Arrest Warrant for Yoon Over Martial Law

(FILES) This handout photo taken on December 14, 2024 and released by the South Korean Presidential Office shows President Yoon Suk Yeol giving a public address from his official residence in Seoul. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)
(FILES) This handout photo taken on December 14, 2024 and released by the South Korean Presidential Office shows President Yoon Suk Yeol giving a public address from his official residence in Seoul. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)
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South Korea Investigators Request Arrest Warrant for Yoon Over Martial Law

(FILES) This handout photo taken on December 14, 2024 and released by the South Korean Presidential Office shows President Yoon Suk Yeol giving a public address from his official residence in Seoul. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)
(FILES) This handout photo taken on December 14, 2024 and released by the South Korean Presidential Office shows President Yoon Suk Yeol giving a public address from his official residence in Seoul. (Photo by Handout / South Korean Presidential Office / AFP)

South Korean investigators have sought an arrest warrant for suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol over this month's short-lived imposition of martial law, an official said on Monday, the first time an incumbent president has faced such action.
Yoon has failed to respond to summons for questioning by police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials who are jointly investigating whether his Dec. 3 martial-law declaration amounted to insurrection, Reuters reported.
Police have tried but failed to successfully raid the presidential office as part of the investigation.
A Seoul court will decide whether to issue an arrest warrant following the request.
Insurrection is one of the few charges for which a South Korean president does not have immunity.
Yoon Kab-keun, a lawyer for the suspended president, said the arrest request was "unfair" and the anti-corruption agency has no authority to do so.
"Emergency martial law is within the president's authority," the lawyer told reporters outside the Seoul Western District Court after submitting a written opinion about the arrest warrant request as well as a letter of appointment of lawyers.
Yoon was suspended from presidential powers after being impeached by parliament over his decision to briefly impose martial law.
Masked martial law troops equipped with rifles, body armor and night-vision equipment entered the parliament where they faced off with staffers who opposed them with fire extinguishers.
The decree lasted just hours until the parliament voted it down and Yoon backed down.
The move shocked the nation, which has been a democracy since the 1980s, caused international alarm amongst allies like the United States and trading partner's with Asia's 4th largest economy.
A Constitutional Court trial has commenced into whether to reinstate Yoon or remove him permanently from office. It has 180 days to reach a decision.
On Friday, the court held its first preparatory hearing where a request by Yoon's lawyers for a postponement in proceedings to better prepare was denied. The court said it would move swiftly.
The next hearing is due on Jan. 3.

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FBI Finds 150 Homemade Bombs at Virginia Home in One of Largest Such Seizures

The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seen on the Headquarters in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP)
The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seen on the Headquarters in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP)
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FBI Finds 150 Homemade Bombs at Virginia Home in One of Largest Such Seizures

The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seen on the Headquarters in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP)
The seal of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is seen on the Headquarters in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024. (AP)

Federal agents found one of the largest stockpiles of homemade explosives they have ever seized when they arrested a Virginia man on a firearms charge last month, according to a court filing by federal prosecutors.

Investigators seized more than 150 pipe bombs and other homemade devices when they searched the home of Brad Spafford northwest of Norfolk in December, the prosecutors said in a motion filed Monday. The prosecutors wrote that this is believed to be "the largest seizure by number of finished explosive devices in FBI history."

Most of the bombs were found in a detached garage at the home in Isle of Wight County, along with tools and bomb-making materials including fuses and pieces of plastic pipe, according to court documents. The prosecutors also wrote: "Several additional apparent pipe bombs were found in a backpack in the home’s bedroom, completely unsecured," in the home he shares with his wife and two young children.

Spafford, 36, was charged with possession of a firearm in violation of the National Firearms Act. Law enforcement officers allege he owned an unregistered short barrel rifle. Prosecutors said that he faces "numerous additional potential charges" related to the explosives.

Defense attorneys argued in a motion Tuesday that authorities haven't produced evidence that he was planning violence, also noting that he has no criminal record. Further, they question whether the explosive devices were usable because "professionally trained explosive technicians had to rig the devices to explode them."

"There is not a shred of evidence in the record that Mr. Spafford ever threatened anyone and the contention that someone might be in danger because of their political views and comments is nonsensical," the defense lawyers wrote.

Messages were left Wednesday seeking further comment from the defense lawyers who signed the motion, Lawrence Woodward and Jerry Swartz.

The investigation began in 2023 when an informant told authorities that Spafford was stockpiling weapons and ammunition, according to court documents. The informant, a friend, told authorities Spafford had disfigured his hand in 2021 while working on homemade explosives. Prosecutors said he only has two fingers on his right hand.

The informant told authorities that Spafford was using pictures of the president, an apparent reference to President Joe Biden, for target practice and that "he believed political assassinations should be brought back," prosecutors wrote.

Numerous law enforcement officers and bomb technicians searched the property on Dec. 17. The agents located the rifle and the explosive devices, some of which had been hand-labeled as "lethal" and some of which were loaded into a wearable vest, court documents state. Technicians detonated most of the devices on site because they were deemed unsafe to transport, though several were kept for analysis.

At a hearing Tuesday, federal Magistrate Judge Lawrence Leonard determined that Spafford could be released into house arrest at his mother's home but agreed to keep him detained while the government files further arguments.

In response, prosecutors reiterated why they believe Spafford is dangerous, writing that "while he is not known to have engaged in any apparent violence, he has certainly expressed interest in the same, through his manufacture of pope bombs marked ‘lethal,’ his possession of riot gear and a vest loaded with pipe bombs, his support for political assassinations and use of the pictures of the President for target practice."