South Korea’s impeached president is arrested over martial-law move
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SEOUL: South Korean authorities arrested and detained for questioning the country's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, deepening the fallout from his short-lived declaration of martial law last month. Never before has a South Korean sitting president been arrested.
The 64-year-old Yoon is being investigated on possible allegations of insurrection, among others. He was detained at the country's presidential residence in central Seoul, where investigators had backed down in a first attempt earlier this month after a tense standoff with Yoon's armed bodyguards. For their second try, investigators had said they would show up with specialized police units that typically deal with organized crime or drug trafficking, as well as other law enforcement.
Security personnel fortified the presidential compound with extra barbed wire and new barricades following the unsuccessful attempt on Jan. 3. The leadership crisis has paralyzed Seoul at a critical moment, with President-elect Donald Trump taking office on Jan.
20, North Korea recently testing self-proclaimed hypersonic weaponry and the country reeling from a plane crash in South Korea that killed 179 people. Yoon had been stripped of his presidential powers upon his Dec. 14 impeachment.
Two weeks later, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been acting president with Yoon sidelined, was also impeached for declining to make certain judicial appointments. On Monday, acting President Choi Sang-mok, the No. 3 in line, ordered the police and Yoon's Secret Service to refrain from violence and maintain order in any execution of the arrest warrant.
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