Seoul: Former President Yoon Suk Yeol voluntarily appeared before a special counsel team on Wednesday ahead of investigators executing a warrant for his forced detention. Yoon is currently in a waiting room at special counsel Cho Eun-suk's office to be questioned about allegations related to his failed imposition of martial law, as confirmed by assistant special counsel Park Ji-young during a press briefing.

According to Yonhap News Agency, Yoon had previously ignored all summonses issued by special counsel teams investigating various allegations surrounding him and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, following his second arrest in July. Park stated that Yoon's appearance followed a court-issued detention warrant on October 1, with the team ordering its execution to the Seoul Detention Center, where Yoon is held.

"The Seoul Detention Center was scheduled to execute the detention warrant at around 8 a.m. today, considering his trial schedule," Park explained. "When the prison officer informed him in advance of the warrant issuance and plans to execute it, former President Yoon expressed his intention to appear voluntarily, and the warrant execution did not take place."

The special counsel team had previously summoned Yoon twice, on September 24 and September 30, regarding allegations that he incited foreign aggression by ordering the dispatch of drones to North Korea last October to provoke retaliation, which he planned to use as justification for declaring martial law. Yoon imposed martial law on December 3 but withdrew it hours later after the National Assembly voted to repeal it.

In a statement to the press, Yoon's lawyers mentioned that the former president chose to appear voluntarily on Wednesday to "ease the burden" on prison officers after learning of their "great distress" during a previous attempt to detain him in August.