South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol held after weeks of evasion

SEOUL: South Korean investigators on Wednesday arrested President Yoon Suk-yeol over accusations of prompting an uprising against the government, CNN reported.

“The Joint Investigation Headquarters executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol today (January 15) at 10:33 am (01:30 GMT)”, the authorities said in a statement on Wednesday, Al Jazeera quoted.

The accusations, if proven, could lead Yoon to death penalty or life imprisonment as per South Korean constitution. He had been evading arrest since weeks, with Presidential Security Service team guarding his residence, as per CNN.

Al Jazeera reported that in a video message recorded before being held, Yoon said that he would go for questioning over his failure in imposing the martial law.

“I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Office”, Al Jazeera quoted Yoon as saying, adding that he did not accept the legality of the investigation but was complying “to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed”.

BREAKING: CIO says they executed the warrant to detain impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to question him over his botched martial law decree pic.twitter.com/SRSkWkZgV7

— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) January 15, 2025

Scores of people, including supporters, gathered outside Yoon’s home, while a group of lawmakers from the governing conservative People Power Party and Yoon’s lawyers also attempted to prevent the arrest inside the residential compound, Al Jazeera reported.

The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is working with police and the defence ministry to investigate Yoon, first attempted to detain him earlier this month, but it failed after a showdown in which soldiers and members of the presidential security detail blocked 80 police and investigators from approaching the presidential compound, as per CNN.

The corruption investigation office can hold him for a maximum of 48 hours. They then need to decide, at that point, whether or not to apply for a warrant to detain the president, as per Al Jazeera.

A South Korean court approved his arrest warrant after Yoon failed to turn up to three summonses by investigators in recent weeks asking for his cooperation, according to the Corruption Investigation Office, CNN reported.

On December 14, last year, Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly over his attempt to impose martial law in the country. The members of the unicameral National Assembly had voted 204 to 85 to impeach South Korea’s President.

After his impeachment, Yoon was suspended from office. (ANI)