The deposed president of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol, was arrested on the morning of Wednesday, 15th (Tuesday night in Brasília) for the imposition of martial law in December, announced the joint team investigating him for alleged insurrection. The arrest came hours after hundreds of agency investigators and police officers arrived at his presidential complex to arrest him.
“The Joint Bureau of Investigation executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol today at 10:33 am,” the office said in a statement.
In a video message recorded before being escorted to the headquarters of an anti-corruption agency, Yoon lamented that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country” but said he was serving the arrest warrant to avoid clashes between law enforcement authorities. and the presidential security service.
During interrogation after his arrest, Yoon refused to answer investigators’ questions.
Yoon, who was removed in an impeachment trial and charged with insurrection for his short-lived effort to impose martial law in December, thus becomes the first president still in office to be arrested in the Asian country’s history.
About three hours earlier, hundreds of law enforcement agents entered the president’s residential complex and faced resistance from security forces. A first arrest attempt failed in early January due to the presidential security service.
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After an hours-long standoff at the complex’s gate, anti-corruption investigators and police were seen ascending the mountainous complex. Some used ladders to climb rows of buses placed by the presidential security service near the entrance.
Yoon is being investigated by the police and an anti-corruption body for having briefly introduced martial law on December 3, with the aim, according to him, of protecting the country from “North Korean communist forces”. The investigation seeks to understand whether the measure amounted to an attempted rebellion.
After resistance from the presidential guard, some police officers were seen entering through a security door on the side of the gate, escorted by one of Yoon’s lawyers and his chief of staff. A series of black SUVs, some equipped with sirens, were seen leaving the presidential complex amid police escorts.
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Earlier, Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer for Yoon, said that lawyers at the residence were negotiating with the anti-corruption agency about the possibility of the president appearing voluntarily for questioning, but the agency refused. The president had ignored previous requests to appear for questioning.
As tensions rose ahead of the arrest, South Korea’s interim leader, Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, issued a statement on Wednesday calling on law enforcement authorities and the presidential security service to ensure there was no “physical conflicts”.
Yoon’s lawyers said the presidential security service will continue to provide security for Yoon and claimed that the arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Western District Court was invalid. They cited a law that protects sites potentially linked to military secrets from searches without the consent of the person responsible — which would be Yoon. The court order for Yoon’s arrest is valid until January 21st.
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In front of the presidential residence, Yoon’s supporters shouted “illegal warrant!” and American flags flew. In addition, around 30 deputies from Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) arrived at the scene to protect their leader, according to Yonhap.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on December 14, accusing him of rebellion. His fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him./AFP and AP.
