Yoon Suk Yeol became the first South Korean leader to be detained while in office, ending a tense standoff between his supporters and the authorities.
President Yoon Suk Yeol became the first sitting South Korean leader to be detained for questioning by criminal investigators on Wednesday, striking a deal with massed law enforcement officials and ending a weeks long standoff over his declaration of martial law that thrust the country into a political crisis.
Mr. Yoon’s security guards successfully blocked the investigators from detaining him on Jan. 3, when they made their first attempt to serve a court-issued detention warrant. Since then, the country has been gripped by fears that a violent clash might occur if both sides refused to back down.
But when the investigators returned on Wednesday with far more police officers, some of them carrying ladders to scale barricades, Mr. Yoon’s bodyguards put up no obvious resistance.
Mr. Yoon will now face questioning from officials investigating his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3.
The investigators can now question him for 48 hours and then could apply for a separate court warrant to formally arrest him.
In a video message released shortly after his detention, Mr. Yoon said he agreed to subject himself to questioning in order to prevent a “bloody” clash between his bodyguards and the police.
But he called the investigation and a warrant to detain him illegal. (NYT)
A motorcade took President Yoon Suk Yeol away from his residence in Seoul on Wednesday morning. He will be questioned about his declaration of martial law last month.Credit…Jun
