Seoul: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested for questioning, according to the country’s anti-corruption agency, in the latest chapter of a weekslong political saga that began with the embattled president’s shock martial law decree last month.
Yoon left his residential compound with investigators in a motorcade Wednesday morning and was taken into custody – the first time such an action has been taken against a sitting president in South Korea, CNN reported.
Yoon is wanted for questioning in multiple investigations related to his short-lived declaration, including over accusations of leading an insurrection – a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
The embattled president has been holed up in his fortified residence for weeks surrounded by his Presidential Security Service team, evading arrest as he faces several probes and an impeachment trial, according to a CNN report.
The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is working with police and the defense ministry to investigate Yoon, first attempted to detain him earlier this month, but it failed after an hours-long showdown in which soldiers and members of the presidential security detail blocked some 80 police and investigators from approaching the presidential compound.
Following his arrest, Yoon released a pre-recorded video message Wednesday in which he again dismissed the investigations into him as “illegal” and said “the law is all broken in this country.”
“As a president who must protect the constitution and legal system of the Republic of Korea, responding to these illegal and invalid procedures is not an acknowledgment of them, but in the hopes of preventing unsavory bloodshed,” he said.
According to reports, the warrant allows investigators to hold Yoon for up to 48 hours. The CIO would need to apply for an arrest warrant within that period to detain him further.
Some demonstrators could be heard chanting “resign,” “your time is up” and “take responsibility,” while supporters of the embattled president chanted “invalid impeachment,” “free ROK, hurrah!” and “we won!”
The crowds were accompanied by lines of uniformed police, and a combination of police buses and protester buses remained outside the residence, blockading the street.
A court approved a warrant to detain the president earlier this month after Yoon, a former prosecutor, refused to answer three summonses by investigators in recent weeks asking for his cooperation, according to the CIO.
