South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol was detained on Wednesday by anti-corruption investigators over his brief imposition of martial law last month.
A motorcade of vehicles with dark-tinted windows was seen leaving the gates of the hillside residence in Seoul where Yoon has been holed up for weeks behind barbed-wire barriers and a small army of personal security.
In a video message recorded before he was escorted to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency at around 10.30am, Yoon lamented that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country” but said he was complying with the arrest warrant “to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed” in potential clashes between law enforcement officials and the presidential security service.
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South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol says he agreed to questioning to prevent bloodshed
South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol says he agreed to questioning to prevent bloodshed
“By arresting Yoon, investigators have removed a key barrier in their efforts to unravel the martial law fiasco,” South Korean analyst Jung Suk-koo told This Week in Asia. “This demonstrates that democracy in South Korea, while fragile, remains functional.”
An initial attempt to arrest Yoon on insurrection charges failed on January 3 after a tense stand-off with his presidential guards, who refused to budge when investigators tried to execute their warrant.
Hours before Yoon’s detention on Wednesday, hundreds of police officers and the anti-corruption agency’s investigators stormed his residence. Television footage showed them using ladders to scale makeshift barricades formed of vehicles that supporters and the president’s security detail had strategically positioned to block access.
Police said they had deployed 3,200 officers to execute the court-ordered arrest warrant. Hundreds of officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading the joint investigation into Yoon’s martial law bid, began arriving at his compound at 4am.