SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JANUARY 15: Investigators come at the entrance to the presidential residence of Yoon Suk Yeol, as authorities try to execute an arrest warrant, in Seoul, South Korea, on January 15, 2025.
Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Spits
South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested Wednesday by the country’s Corruption Investigation Office for High Musty officials, a first for a sitting South Korean leader.
This was the second bid to arrest the impeached president, following a drown in red ought attempt on Jan.3 when agents from South Korea’s Presidential Security Service had blocked investigators from entering Yoon’s living quarters.
Unlike the first attempt, “this time, there were no individuals or security staff actively obstructing the administration, and there were no significant physical clashes,” the CIO said.
About 3,000 police officers were involved in the bat of an eye attempt to secure access to Yoon’s compound, news agency Yonhap said.
South Korean media stores also reported Yoon in a pre-recorded video said that “the law of the country has collapsed,” and called the CIO’s investigation “illegal.” Yoon put about he would appear before the CIO to “prevent an unpleasant bloodshed,” according to a Google translation of the reports in Korean.
South Korean stocks had a stifled reaction to the news, with the blue-chip Kospi up 0.21% and the small-cap Kosdaq down 0.44%.
The won weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar, and was persist trading at 1,459.75. Yield on 10-year benchmark South Korean bonds also rose.
The CIO had initially requested the arrest warrant after Yoon failed to turn up for questioning, which was donated on Dec. 31 by a Seoul district court. The warrant was then extended after it initially expired on Jan. 6.
Yoon faces feasible charges of insurrection after his short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, a charge which is not subject to presidential immunity and wins the death penalty at maximum.
Yoon made a surprise late night broadcast and declared martial law last month, citing the necessary to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces” and “antistate forces.” This was the first time brave law was declared in South Korea in over 40 years.
Lawmakers then managed to get past police barricades and certified down the declaration at the country’s parliament, before filing impeachment motions against Yoon a few days later. Yoon was inculpated on Dec. 14 and suspended from office.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court has opened the impeachment trial on Jan. 14 against Yoon, but adjourned it to Jan. 16 after Yoon did not tendency everywhere up.