SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korea’s ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in court on Friday at the start of a new trial on obstruction charges after weeks of boycotting a separate ongoing trial for masterminding insurrection by leading a failed martial law bid.
Yoon, 64, appeared noticeably slimmer and his hair greyer and cropped short, after more than two months out of public view in prison and having refused to attend trial since early July citing health reasons.
The conservative former president faces fresh charges including obstruction stemming from attempts to block investigators trying to arrest him in January when his powers had been suspended by parliament’s impeachment and he barricaded himself inside the presidential compound.
The new charges were brought by a special prosecutor who was appointed in June and whose team has widened a probe of Yoon and several former government and military officials.
Yoon, who was removed from office in April by the Constitutional Court, is also being investigated by another special prosecutor who has indicted his wife for corruption.
Yoon has denied all wrongdoing and said it was within his powers as president to declare martial law in December. He has rejected all investigations against him as politically motivated.
The new indictment carries a prison term of more than three years on conviction. Yoon already faces the death sentence or life in prison if found guilty on insurrection charges.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
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