S. Korean president arrested in residence over martial law imposition

SEOUL: South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was arrested in presidential residence Wednesday, becoming the country’s first sitting president to be kept in custody over his short-lived martial law imposition.

A joint investigation unit, composed of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), the National Office of Investigation (NOI) and the defense ministry’s investigative headquarters, said in a short notice that Yoon was arrested at 10:33 a.m. local time (0133 GMT).

TV footage showed that a black vehicle carrying Yoon arrived at the CIO office in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, before being detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just 5 km away from the office.

The CIO will be required to decide within 48 hours whether to seek a separate warrant to detain Yoon for up to 20 days for further questioning or release him.

Yoon became the first incumbent president to be arrested in the country’s modern history.

Yoon said in a pre-recorded message that he deplored proceeding with the arrest warrant, which he claimed to be illegal and executed by force.

He said that accepting what he claimed to be an illegal procedure was aimed at preventing any possible bloodshed.

Investigators from the CIO and the National Office of Investigation (NOI) broke through cordons of the presidential security service without interruption after being blocked for over two hours by Yoon’s supporters, his counsels and lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party in front of the main gate of the residence.

It came after the botched attempt to apprehend Yoon on Jan. 3 when the presidential security service deterred the execution of the arrest warrant.

A Seoul court granted the extension of the warrant to arrest Yoon on Jan. 7 by issuing the second warrant.

The embattled president defied the CIO’s calls three times last month to voluntarily appear for questioning, leading to the arrest warrant issuance.

Yoon said in a televised address last month that he will not avoid his legal and political responsibility for the martial law imposition.

Yoon, who was named by investigative agencies as a suspected ringleader on an insurrection charge, declared a martial law on the night of Dec. 3 last year but it was revoked by the National Assembly hours later.

An impeachment motion against Yoon was passed by the National Assembly on Dec. 14 and delivered to the constitutional court to deliberate it for up to 180 days, during which Yoon’s presidential power is suspended.

The court held the first formal hearing for Yoon’s impeachment trial on Tuesday, rejecting Yoon’s request to exclude a newly appointed justice, recommended by the main opposition Democratic Party, from hearings and the trial.

The first hearing continued just for about four minutes as Yoon failed to appear in the court.

Newly appointed justices filled two of three vacancies in the nine-member bench and assumed their duties earlier this month, raising a possibility for Yoon’s impeachment being upheld.

To oust Yoon from office, at least six justices of the constitutional court are required to uphold the impeachment.

Following the first hearing, the court planned to hold next hearings on Jan. 16, 21, 23 and Feb. 4.

-Xinhua