▲ Former Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on July 16, 2026, for an arrest warrant hearing over his alleged involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law bid in 2024. (Yonhap)

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SEOUL, July 16 (Yonhap) -- A Seoul court on Thursday rejected an arrest warrant for a former prosecutor general over his alleged involvement in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed martial law bid.

The Seoul Central District Court rejected the arrest warrant sought for Shim Woo-jung, citing insufficient grounds to conclude that he poses a flight risk or is likely to destroy evidence.

The former prosecution chief is suspected of having reviewed dispatching prosecutors to a joint martial law investigation body on Dec. 3, 2024, the night the ousted president declared martial law.

Special counsel Kwon Chang-yong's team believes such a move came at the instruction of then Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, who had three phone calls with Shim on the night of the martial law declaration.

Park, the former justice minister, was convicted and sentenced to a 25-year prison term by the Seoul district court in June.

Shim is also accused of overriding the prosecution's internal recommendations in March last year to appeal a court order to release Yoon from a detention center, following a court ruling that his detention had been invalid due to questions about the legality of the investigation and the exact time the prosecution filed its indictment.

Shim reportedly denied the allegations raised against him during the arrest warrant hearing held earlier in the day.

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