South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested for questioning, according to the country’s anti corruption agency, in the latest chapter of a weeks long political saga that began with the embattled president’s shock martial law decree last month.
Yoon was arrested for questioning Wednesday morning and left his residential compound with investigators in a motorcade – the first time such an action has been taken against a sitting president in South Korea.
Yoon is wanted for questioning in multiple criminal investigations related to his short-lived declaration, including over accusations of leading an insurrection – a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Yoon had refused to answer investigators’ questions or comment, and had refused to allow the sessions to be recorded, an official with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) told reporters.
Yoon is expected to be moved from the CIO headquarters to a nearby detention center, where he will be held overnight in solitary confinement “due to safety reasons,” the facility told CNN.
The embattled president had been holed up in his fortified residence for weeks surrounded by his Presidential Security Service team, evading arrest as he faces several probes and an impeachment trial.
The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is working with police and the defense ministry to investigate Yoon, first attempted to detain him earlier this month, but it failed after an hours-long showdown in which soldiers and members of the presidential security detail blocked some 80 police and investigators from approaching the presidential compound.
Following his arrest Wednesday, Yoon released a video message dismissing the investigations into him as “illegal” and said “rule of law in this country has completely collapsed.” He said he cooperated with investigators to prevent violent clashes.
“As a president who must protect the constitution and legal system of the Republic of Korea, responding to these illegal and invalid procedures is not an acknowledgment of them, but in the hopes of preventing unsavory bloodshed,” he said.
The warrant allows investigators to hold Yoon for up to 48 hours from the time he was detained, until around 10 a.m. local time Friday. The CIO would need to apply for an arrest warrant within that period to detain him further. (CNN)