South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol has reportedly been arrested on charges of rebellion stemming from his ill-fated martial law declaration last month.
Yoon’s detention was reported Wednesday by Yonhap, one of the country’s largest news outlets. Initially, the warrant for his arrest is issued from December 31 as he did not appear for questioning.
According to Reuters, police sent about 3,200 officers to the president’s sprawling mountain estate in Seoul, where he has spent weeks in hiding, surrounded by a personal security detail.
According to Reuters, video showed authorities closing in on Yoon’s residence, where hundreds of his supporters had already gathered to protest on his behalf. Earlier, he was reportedly seen pushing and shoving among a group of them.
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A previous attempt to detain Yoon on January 3 was aborted after a six-hour standoff between military guards and presidential security staff.
“As I have repeatedly stressed, there is a need for prevention of physical clashes between state agencies,” Acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement on Wednesday. “If any unfortunate incident happens I will hold those people strictly responsible.”
Authorities are making a second attempt to detain suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol following last month’s martial law declaration. (South Korean Presidential Office via AP, file)
It has proven difficult for investigators to execute a warrant for Yoon’s arrest, as the president’s legal lawyers insist that doing so would be done under a law prohibiting non-consensual searches of locations potentially involving military secrets. It is impossible.
Yoon’s lawyers have also condemned such warrants as an illegal means of publicly humiliating him.
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The arrest warrant is the first to be issued against a sitting president of South Korea. Yoon’s warrant stems from his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law due to his apparent frustration with the opposition-dominated parliament’s refusal to pass key items on his political agenda.
The move was condemned in South Korea and abroad, where analysts expressed surprise at the sudden and unprecedented move in one of Asia’s most stable democracies.
Police officers, along with investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, are seen closing in on the residence of suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea. (Reuters/Kim Hong-ji)
Parliament unanimously rejected Yoon’s announcement, and subsequently suspended him on 14 December by a 204–85 vote, which also included members of his own party.
If the Constitutional Court upholds the motion with a three-quarters majority, Yoon would be formally impeached.
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The next hearing of the court is to be held on Thursday.
Reuters contributed to this report.
