South Korea’s anti-corruption agency says impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been detained on Wednesday (January 15, 2025) hours after hundreds of the agency’s investigators and police officers arrived at his presidential compound to apprehend him.
A series of black SUVs, some equipped with sirens, were seen leaving the presidential compound with police escorts.
Law enforcement officers had entered the residential compound of President Yoon early Wednesday in their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law last month.
Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials held negotiations with the president’s attorneys, and it took hours to apprehend him.
Mr. Yoon has been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence in the capital, Seoul, for weeks while vowing to “fight to the end” against the efforts to oust him.
He has justified his declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024, as a legitimate act of governance against an “anti-state” opposition employing its legislative majority to thwart his agenda.
Mr. Yoon’s lawyers were trying to persuade investigators not to execute the detention warrant, saying the president would voluntarily appear for questioning, but the agency told reporters they weren’t immediately considering that option.
The anti-corruption agency is leading a joint investigation with police and the military over whether Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration amounted to an attempted rebellion and sought to bring him into custody after he ignored several summons for questioning. They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on January 3.
Published – January 15, 2025 07:43 am IST
