Yoon Suk Yeol: South Korea’s ousted president arrested

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Lerato Khumalo

Arrest of the ousted president

Investigators lead Yoon Suk Yeol away from his residence

Updated 01/15/2025 – 03:01 amReading time: 2 minutes

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South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested by anti-corruption agency investigators. (archive image) (Source: KIM HONG-JI/Pool Reuters/AP/dpa/dpa-bilder)

South Korea’s ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested for briefly declaring martial law. Police took him to the public prosecutor’s office.

South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested in the capital Seoul in early December because of the brief declaration of martial law. Police officers and investigators from the Anti-Corruption Agency (CIO) arrested Yoon at his residence on Wednesday morning to take him to the prosecutor’s office, South Korea’s official Yonhap News Agency reported.

Investigators managed to get into the presidential residence when they tried to arrest Yoon again on Wednesday. “We don’t know the exact number of people who are in the residence, but there are prosecutors there,” an anti-corruption agency official said shortly before his arrest.

As journalists from the AFP news agency saw, investigators were involved in clashes with people defending the grounds of the residence. Television footage showed investigators using ladders to access the grounds of Yoon’s residence.

Already on January 3, officers from Yoon’s presidential security service, including soldiers, prevented investigators from arresting the president at his residence in Seoul. They then initially gave up their plan. The new attempt to arrest Yoon is based on a new arrest warrant issued on Tuesday.

Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis at the beginning of December by briefly declaring martial law. He had used the measure in a budget dispute and thereby alarmed both at home and abroad. As a result, tens of thousands of people took to the streets against Yoon and for the preservation of democracy in South Korea, but Yoon’s supporters also demonstrated.

Parliament voted in favor of removing the president, on which the Constitutional Court still has to make a final decision. The trial began on Tuesday and may take place in Yoon’s absence.

At the same time, the anti-corruption authority began investigating the head of state, who was deposed by parliament, because of the declaration of martial law. However, Yoon had so far refused to speak to prosecutors and barricaded himself in the presidential residence.