South Korean President Yoon arrested over failed martial law bid
South Korea’s authorities have arrested the country’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his last month’s failed martial law declaration.
South Korean investigators and police entered the residence of President Yoon on Wednesday seeking his arrest over his last month’s failed martial law declaration. Police officers used ladders to breach his compound.
Yoon has resisted arrest since his short-lived December 3 power grab plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.
The new development came after Yoon agreed to leave his residence and appear at the office of investigators probing him over insurrection.
In his first remarks after his arrest, Yoon said he decided to submit to questioning to avert "bloodshed" even though he believed the probe was illegal.
Investigators and police were initially blocked by the Presidential Security Service, as well as a group of lawmakers and Yoon’s supporters, prompting clashes and arrests.
"We don't know the exact number of people who are in the residence but there are prosecutors," an official from the Corruption Investigation Office, probing Yoon's failed martial law decree, told reporters.
Hundreds of unarmed team of investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) and police officers tried to enter the residential compound but were blocked by unidentified personnel at the entrance gate, AFP reported.
"The execution of the presidential arrest warrant has begun," acting President Choi Sang-mok said Wednesday in a statement.
"This situation is a crucial moment for maintaining order and the rule of law in South Korea."
Yoon did not show up for his impeachment trial on Tuesday morning, leading to the hearings being adjourned minutes after they had begun.
He has become South Korea’s first sitting president to be arrested.
Yoon was holding inside his official “fortress” residence, which he had not left for weeks. The presidential security service has fortified the grounds with barbed wire and rows of vehicles are blocking the roads.
South Korea’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, has called on lawmakers to reach an agreement to launch an independent investigation and resolve the crisis.
Choi, however, has been accused by critics of approving Yoon’s refusal to comply with the court-issued arrest warrant under the guise of neutrality.
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