Cops stand guard as supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attempt to enter the Seoul Western District Court docket in Seoul on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025.
Ahn Younger-joon/AP
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Ahn Younger-joon/AP
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, was formally arrested early Sunday, days after being apprehended at his presidential compound in Seoul. He faces doable imprisonment over his ill-fated declaration of martial regulation final month.
Yoon’s arrest might mark the start of an prolonged interval in custody for him, lasting months or extra.
The choice to arrest Yoon triggered unrest on the Seoul Western District Court docket, the place dozens of his supporters destroyed the courtroom’s fundamental door and home windows. They used plastic chairs and police shields that they managed to wrestle away from officers. Some received inside a hallway and have been seen throwing objects and utilizing hearth extinguishers.
Tons of of law enforcement officials have been deployed to suppress the riot on the courtroom. Dozens of individuals have been arrested on-site, whereas some injured law enforcement officials have been seen being handled at ambulance vans. It wasn’t instantly clear whether or not any courtroom workers have been injured.
Following an hourlong deliberation, the courtroom granted regulation enforcement’s request for an arrest warrant on Yoon, seeing him as a menace to destroy proof. Yoon and his attorneys on Saturday appeared earlier than the courtroom’s decide throughout a listening to and argued for his launch.
Yoon, who has been in detention since he was apprehended Wednesday in an enormous regulation enforcement operation at his residential compound, faces potential rise up expenses linked to his declaration of martial regulation on Dec. 3, which set off the nation’s most critical political disaster since its democratization within the late Nineteen Eighties.
The Corruption Investigation Workplace for Excessive-Rating Officers, which is main a joint investigation with police and the navy, can now lengthen Yoon’s detention to twenty days, throughout which they are going to switch the case to public prosecutors for indictment.
Yoon’s attorneys might additionally file a petition to problem the courtroom’s arrest warrant.
Yoon’s look in courtroom triggered chaotic scenes in close by streets, the place 1000’s of his fervent supporters rallied for hours calling for his launch. Even earlier than the courtroom issued a warrant for Yoon’s arrest, protesters repeatedly clashed with police who detained dozens of them, together with about 20 who climbed over a fence in an try and method the courtroom. Not less than two autos carrying anti-corruption investigators have been broken as they left the courtroom after arguing for Yoon’s arrest.
Yoon’s attorneys stated he spoke for about 40 minutes to the decide in the course of the almost five-hour closed-door listening to on Saturday. His authorized workforce and anti-corruption businesses introduced opposing arguments about whether or not he needs to be held in custody. The attorneys didn’t share his particular feedback.
Following the listening to, Yoon was transported again to the detention middle, the place he awaited the choice. Neither Yoon nor his attorneys instantly commented on the arrest warrant.
Chaotic scenes outdoors the courtroom
Yoon was transported to the courtroom from a detention middle in Uiwang, close to Seoul, in a blue Justice Ministry van escorted by police and the presidential safety service, to attend the listening to on the courtroom forward of its warrant determination.
The motorcade entered the courtroom’s basement parking area as 1000’s of Yoon’s supporters gathered in close by streets regardless of a heavy police presence. Some protesters broke via the police strains and tapped on the home windows of his van approaching the courtroom. Yoon didn’t converse to reporters.
After its investigators have been attacked by protesters in a while Saturday, the anti-corruption company requested media firms to obscure the faces of its members attending the listening to.
Yoon insists his martial regulation decree was reliable
Yoon Kab-keun, one of many president’s attorneys, stated the president deliberate to argue to the decide that his decree was a reliable train of his powers and that accusations of rise up wouldn’t maintain up earlier than a felony courtroom or the Constitutional Court docket, which is reviewing whether or not to formally take away him from workplace or reinstate him.
Yoon’s protection minister, police chief, and several other prime navy commanders have already been arrested and indicted for his or her roles within the enforcement of martial regulation.
The disaster started when Yoon, in an try to interrupt via legislative gridlock, imposed navy rule and despatched troops to the Nationwide Meeting and election workplaces. The standoff lasted solely hours after lawmakers who managed to get via a blockade voted to elevate the measure. The opposition-dominated meeting voted to question him on Dec. 14.
If prosecutors indict Yoon on rise up and abuse of energy expenses, that are the allegations now being examined by investigators, they might preserve him in custody for as much as six months earlier than trial.
Beneath South Korean regulation, orchestrating a rise up is punishable by life imprisonment or the loss of life penalty.
Yoon’s attorneys have argued that there isn’t a must detain him in the course of the investigation, saying he would not pose a menace to flee or destroy proof.
Investigators reply that Yoon ignored a number of requests to seem for questioning, and that the presidential safety service blocked an try and detain him on Jan. 3. His defiance has raised issues about whether or not he would adjust to felony courtroom proceedings if he is not underneath arrest.
