Entrenched in residence Investigators arrest South Korea's suspended President Yoon
At the beginning of December, Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law at short notice and plunged his country into a national crisis. After weeks of a trial of strength, he has now been arrested - and taken away for questioning.
15.01.2025, 05:06
15.01.2025, 05:18
dpa
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- Yoon Suk Yeol is the first incumbent head of state in South Korea to be taken into custody.
- Yoon had previously resisted arrest.
- Soon was taken into custody due to the temporary imposition of martial law.
South Korea's deposed President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained by law enforcement officials at his residence on Wednesday over his brief declaration of martial law last month. This was reported by South Korea's official news agency Yonhap. According to the South Korean anti-corruption agency, Yoon was arrested after hundreds of agency investigators and police officers launched another operation to enter his residence. Yoon had been holed up there for weeks, resisting investigators' attempts to question him. On January 3, the first attempt to arrest him failed.
A convoy of black SUVs left the presidential residence in central Seoul under police escort. According to reports, Yoon will be questioned by the CIO in the coming hours on charges that he is guilty of sedition and abuse of power with his actions.
It is the first time in the country's history that a formally acting president of South Korea has been arrested. In addition to the investigation by the anti-corruption authority, impeachment proceedings are also underway against Yoon at the Constitutional Court. After the 64-year-old failed to appear in court at the first hearing on Tuesday, the next trial date was postponed until Thursday.
Barricaded in the presidential residence
Since December, Yoon had barricaded himself in his presidential residence, where high walls, a barbed wire fence and his security service protected him from arrest. In addition, masses of supporters took to the streets to campaign for him.
Yoon had briefly declared martial law on December 3 in the course of a budget dispute with the opposition, plunging the democratic country into a national crisis. Parliament then voted to remove him from office. The Constitutional Court will review this decision in the coming weeks.
Yoon defended the imposition of martial law - which was lifted a few hours later - to the end as a legitimate measure. The suspended president described the opposition as a collection of "anti-state forces" that would paralyze the state in its basic functions.