S Korea's Yoon to accept court decision even if it ends presidency: lawyer

SEOUL: South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol will accept the decision of the Constitutional Court that is trying parliament's impeachment case against him, even if it decides to remove the suspended leader from office, his lawyer said on Thursday.

"So if the decision is 'removal', it cannot but be accepted," Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer for Yoon, told a news conference, when asked if Yoon would accept whatever the outcome of trial was.

Impeached Yoon has earlier defied the court's requests to submit legal briefs before the court began its hearing on December 27, but his lawyers have said he was willing to appear in person to argue his case.

The suspended president has defied repeated summons in a separate criminal investigation into allegations he masterminded insurrection with his December 3 martial law bid.

Yoon, the lawyer, said the president is currently at his official residence and appeared healthy, amid speculation over the suspended leader's whereabouts.

Presidential security guards resisted an initial effort to arrest Yoon last week though he faces another attempt after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the embattled leader.

Seok Dong-hyeon, another lawyer advising Yoon, said Yoon viewed the attempts to arrest him as politically motivated and aimed at humiliating him by bringing him out in public wearing handcuffs.