Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was arrested yesterday over his failed martial law bid, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities and becoming the first president to be detained in the nation’s history.
Yoon, who faces charges of insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, said he would comply with investigators to avoid “bloodshed.”
A former prosecutor who led the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to election victory in 2022, Yoon could face the death penalty or life in jail if found guilty of insurrection.
Photo: Bloomberg
He had sought to evade arrest for weeks by remaining in his residential compound, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service who had remained loyal to him.
His guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, turning it into what the opposition called a “fortress.”
Yoon, who had vowed to “fight to the end,” managed to thwart a first arrest attempt on Jan. 3 following a tense hours-long impasse between the guards and anti-graft investigators working with police.
However, before dawn yesterday, hundreds of police officers and investigators from the South Korean Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) again surrounded the residence, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.
After a standoff of about five hours, authorities announced Yoon had been arrested and the impeached leader released a pre-recorded video message.
“I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Office,” Yoon said in the message, adding that he did not accept the legality of the investigation, but was complying “to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed.”
Yoon left his residence in a convoy and was taken to the offices of the CIO.
Investigators began questioning Yoon shortly after his arrest, but they said he had exercised “his right to remain silent.”
He refused to be filmed during questioning, a CIO official told reporters, adding that Yoon would spend the night at a detention center.
In a later Facebook post that Yoon said he wrote while holed up in his residence, he repeated election fraud claims and spoke of “hostile” nations attacking the country, alluding to North Korea.
Yoon shocked the nation late on Dec. 3 last year when he declared martial law, claiming he needed to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements.”
He deployed troops to parliament, but lawmakers defied them and voted against martial law. Yoon revoked martial law after just six hours. Yoon can be held for up to 48 hours following yesterday’s arrest. Investigators would need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.
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