Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested and questioned for hours by investigators on Wednesday in relation to a criminal insurrection probe, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities. His arrest, the first ever for a sitting president in South Korea, is the latest head-spinning development in one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies, even though the country has a history of prosecuting and imprisoning former leaders.
Since lawmakers voted to impeach and strip him of his duties after his short-lived Dec 3 declaration of martial law, Yoon has been holed up at his hillside residence, guarded by a small army of presidential security staff who blocked a previous arrest attempt earlier this month. On Wednesday he turned himself in for questioning at the corruption investigation offices after over 3,000 police officers seeking to arrest him marched on his residence before dawn.
“I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation – despite it being an illegal investigation – to prevent unsavoury bloodshed,” Yoon said in a statement, referring to Corruption Investigation Office.
A prosecutor accompanied Yoon in his car from his home in the upscale district known as Seoul’s Beverly Hills to the austere CIO offices. As Yoon was being interrogated, an unidentified man in his 60s set himself on fire nearby. The man was severely burned and was unconscious. Authorities have 48 hours to question Yoon, after which they must seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days or release him. However, Yoon is refusing to talk. Yoon is expected to be held at Seoul Detention Centre, where other high-profile figures have also spent time. Yoon’s lawyers have said the arrest warrant is illegal as it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team set up to investigate him had no legal mandate to do so. The warrant referred to him as “ringleader of insurrection”.
This is a Reuters’ story
