The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office has formally arrested the impeached president Yoon Sukyeol who led an insurrection by declaring martial law late on December 3, 2024.
South Korean media has reported that the anti-corruption agency and Seoul police began the operation to arrest Yoon at 3 am on January 15 and that it was done at around 10.40 am.
Authorities can hold Yoon for up to 48 hours on the current warrant.
A former prosecutor who heads the conservative People Power Party, Yoon was elected in 2022.
In a statement, Yoon said:
“When I saw them [the Corruption Investigation Office] break into the security area using firefighting equipment today, I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation, despite it being an illegal investigation, to prevent unsavoury bloodshed.”
Yoon is now the first incumbent president of South Korea to be taken into custody.
In a video message recorded before he was escorted to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, Yoon lamented the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country.” Widespread protests calling for Yoon’s resignation had marked the days before his arrest, starting from when he declared martial law – which lasted for all of six hours.
“This is a historic moment,” one anti-Yoon protester was quoted by Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper as having said. “Once Yoon is arrested, we’ll never have to deal with him again.”
Previous attempts to arrest him, on January 3 most notably, had been stopped by members of the Presidential Security Service – who stood down today – and some of his protesters.
Yoon’s guards had installed barbed wire and barricades, turning the residence into what the opposition called a “fortress.”
A witness told Reuters news agency that some minor clashes broke out between his supporters who had gathered there, and the authorities.
With inputs from DW.