Impeached South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday over his failed martial law bid, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities and becoming the first sitting president to be detained in the nation’s history.

Yoon, who faces charges of insurrection over his short-lived effort to impose martial law last month, said he would comply with investigators to avoid “bloodshed”.

A former prosecutor who led the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to election victory in 2022, Yoon could face the death penalty or life in jail if found guilty of insurrection.

He had sought to evade arrest for weeks by remaining in his residential compound, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) who had remained loyal to him.

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His guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, turning it into what the opposition called a “fortress”.

Yoon, who had vowed to “fight to the end”, managed to thwart a first arrest attempt on January 3 following a tense hours-long impasse between the guards and anti-graft investigators working with police.

But before dawn on Wednesday, investigators presented the fresh warrant to Yoon’s guards, then had to bypass bus barricades and cut barbed wire to get inside the compound, a CIO official told reporters.

Hundreds of police officers and investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office surrounded the residence, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.

After a standoff of about five hours, authorities announced Yoon had been arrested and the impeached leader released a pre-recorded video message.

“I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Office,” Yoon said in the message, adding that he did not accept the legality of the investigation but was complying “to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed”.

– ‘Illegal warrant!’ –

Shortly after he was taken to the CIO offices in a convoy, investigators began questioning Yoon but they said later he exercised “his right to remain silent”.

He refused to be filmed during questioning, a CIO official told reporters, adding that Yoon would spend the night at a detention centre.

In a later Facebook post — which Yoon said he wrote while holed up in his residence — he repeated election fraud claims and spoke of “hostile” nations attacking the country, alluding to North Korea.

AFP reporters earlier witnessed brief scuffles at the gate of the residence, where Yoon’s die-hard supporters had been camped out to protect him, as authorities first moved on the compound.

His supporters were heard chanting “illegal warrant!” while waving glow sticks and South Korean and American flags. Some lay on the ground outside the residential compound’s main gate.

– Defiant –

Yoon shocked the nation late on December 3 when he declared martial law, claiming he needed to safeguard South Korea “from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and eliminate anti-state elements”.

He deployed troops to parliament but lawmakers defied them and voted against martial law. Yoon revoked martial law after just six hours.

Yoon can be held for up to 48 hours following Wednesday’s arrest. Investigators would need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.

Yoon’s legal team had repeatedly decried the warrant as illegal.

His ruling party also said his arrest was unlawful.

“History will inevitably record the fact that the CIO and the police executed an unjust and illegal warrant,” PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong told a party meeting.

In a parallel probe, the Constitutional Court on Tuesday launched a trial to rule on parliament’s impeachment of Yoon.

If the court endorses the impeachment, Yoon will finally lose the presidency and fresh elections will have to be held within 60 days.

The trial was adjourned on Tuesday after only a very brief hearing as Yoon declined to attend, but proceedings could last for months.

South Korea’s opposition Democratic Party celebrated Yoon’s detention, with a top official calling it “the first step” to restoring constitutional and legal order after weeks of turmoil.

The country’s parliament speaker echoed those sentiments.

“We should concentrate our efforts on stabilising state affairs and restoring people’s livelihoods,” Woo Won-shik said.

AFP