South Korean investigative authorities have arrested South Korean President Yun Seok-Yeol, who was impeached on charges of sedition for temporarily imposing martial law, which was quickly overturned by the National Assembly.
“The Joint Investigation Headquarters executed an arrest warrant for President Yun Seok-Yeol today (January 15) at 10:33 a.m. (1:30 p.m. Japan time),” authorities said in a statement on Wednesday. He is the first South Korean president to issue an arrest warrant. Arrested while in office.
South Korea’s Yonhap News reported that Lee Jae-soon, deputy director of the Korea Corruption Investigation Agency (CIO), led the interrogation of Yoon in the interrogation room with Yoon’s legal representative present. According to Reuters, the chief information officer (CIO) announced that Yoon will be detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang after being interrogated.
In a prerecorded video message released after his arrest, Yun said he had decided to respond to questioning over the failure of martial law to avoid “bloodshed.”
“I have decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Bureau,” Yun said, adding that although he did not accept the legality of the investigation, he was responding “to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed.”
According to reports, South Korean investigators and police entered Yoon’s residential property using a ladder early in the day after it was initially sealed off by the Presidential Security Office, which used vehicles to barricade the entrance.
According to reports, thousands of people, including supporters, gathered in front of Yun’s home, and a group of parliamentarians from the ruling conservative People’s Power Party and Yun’s lawyer also tried to prevent his arrest on the presidential grounds. That’s what it means.
Authorities now have 48 hours to question Yun, after which they must detain him for up to 20 days or apply for a warrant to release him.
Investigators began questioning the suspended president immediately after his arrest, but the president said he had exercised his “right to remain silent.” He also withheld permission to film the interview.
The CIO, who has prepared more than 200 pages of questionnaires for Mr. Yoon, told reporters he had no information on why Mr. Yoon refused to talk.
The standoff at Yun’s presidential palace occurred just hours after he failed to appear in the first hearing of his impeachment trial over the brief imposition of martial law on December 3.
Patrick Fok, an Al Jazeera correspondent from Seoul, said an estimated 1,000 police officers were involved in the arrest operation at the presidential palace.
“The Corruption Investigation Bureau can detain him for up to 48 hours, and at that point it will have to decide whether to apply for a warrant for presidential detention,” Fok said.
“It’s not clear that it’s necessary, but of course it was very difficult to get to this point,” he said.
Fok said Yoon was not present at Tuesday’s opening of the impeachment trial, and South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled that Yoon’s presence is necessary.
“He has been arrested and will probably appear in court tomorrow,” he added.
Wednesday’s operation was the second attempt by law enforcement authorities to arrest Yun. A previous failed attempt ended in early January after an hours-long standoff between authorities and Mr. Yun’s security team inside the presidential palace.
Since then, Mr. Yoon has holed up in a hillside villa in Seoul for weeks to avoid arrest. He also did not appear at Tuesday morning’s impeachment trial, which was adjourned minutes into the hearing.
Lawyers for the impeached president had said their client would not appear at the impeachment hearing because authorities’ continued attempts to restrain him would prevent him from freely expressing his position.
This hearing is being held after the South Korean National Assembly passed a resolution on December 14 to impeach Yoon for his sudden imposition of martial law in a late-night speech on December 3, 2024.
Yoon took office in May 2022 after first gaining public attention in 2017 as the chief prosecutor for former South Korean President Park Geun-hye on corruption charges.
As his popularity plummeted, Yoon shocked the nation by declaring martial law, saying it was necessary to “protect South Korea from the threat posed by North Korean communist forces and eliminate anti-national elements.”
He sent troops to Congress, but lawmakers rebelled against him and voted against the move. Yoon was forced to rescind the declaration just six hours later, but the move sparked unprecedented political turmoil in South Korea.
