Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, centerm arrives at a courtroom to attend a listening to to evaluate his arrest warrant requested by particular prosecutors in Seoul, South Korea Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
Kim Hong-Ji/AP/Pool Reuters
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Kim Hong-Ji/AP/Pool Reuters
SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean courtroom early Thursday accepted the brand new arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on expenses associated to his temporary imposition of martial legislation in December, accepting a particular prosecutor’s declare that he poses a threat of destroying proof.
The arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Court docket despatched Yoon again to a detention middle close to the capital, 4 months after his launch in March, when the identical courtroom overturned his January arrest and allowed him to face trial for rebel with out being held in custody.
His legal case is being dealt with by a workforce of investigators below particular prosecutor Cho Eun-suk who’re pursuing further expenses over Yoon’s authoritarian push, together with obstructing official duties, abuse of energy and falsifying official paperwork.
Cho’s workforce questioned him twice earlier than submitting a request for his arrest warrant to the courtroom on Sunday.
Yoon’s attorneys had described the arrest request as extreme and unsubstantiated. They did not instantly react to the courtroom’s choice to approve the arrest of Yoon , who was formally faraway from workplace in April after the Constitutional Court docket upheld his impeachment.
Yoon did not reply to questions by reporters after arriving on the courtroom on Wednesday afternoon for a listening to to evaluate the particular prosecutor’s request. After the listening to lasting about seven hours, Yoon was taken to the detention middle to await the courtroom’s choice.
Yoon’s new arrest may mark the start of an prolonged interval in custody, probably lasting months or longer. Yoon will be initially detained on the middle for as much as 20 days, whereas the particular prosecutor will purpose to indict him on further expenses.
A protester wears a masks of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol throughout a rally in help of a listening to to evaluate a particular prosecutor’s request for his arrest, close to the Seoul Central District Court docket in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. The writing reads “Yoon Suk Yeol sentenced to death.”
Ahn Younger-joon/AP
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Ahn Younger-joon/AP
If Yoon is indicted on new expenses, that might maintain him below arrest for as much as six months till an preliminary courtroom ruling. If that courtroom convicts him and points a jail time period, Yoon would serve that sentence because the case probably strikes as much as greater courts.
Park Ji-young, a senior investigator on Cho’s workforce, mentioned they plan to query Yoon once more Friday. Yoon was absent from a Thursday listening to on the Seoul courtroom over his earlier indictment on rebel expenses, and his attorneys supplied no quick clarification for his absence.
The previous conservative chief described his martial legislation imposition on Dec. 3 as a vital step to quash his “anti-state” liberal opponents, accusing them of utilizing their legislative majority to hinder his agenda. However Yoon’s decree lasted solely hours, after a quorum of lawmakers broke by means of a blockade of closely armed troopers on the Nationwide Meeting and voted to elevate the measure.
Yoon was impeached by lawmakers Dec. 14 and indicted Jan. 26 by public prosecutors who accused him of masterminding an tried rebel, describing his energy seize as an unlawful try to seize the legislature and election workplaces and detain political opponents.
The costs are punishable by the loss of life penalty or life imprisonment.
Yoon additionally faces accusations of imposing martial legislation with out following required authorized process, akin to deliberation by a proper Cupboard assembly, and of unlawfully deploying the presidential safety forces like a personal military to dam an preliminary try by legislation enforcement to detain him at his residence in early January.
His liberal rival and present President Lee Jae Myung, who gained the June snap election to exchange him, final month accepted laws to launch sweeping particular investigations into Yoon’s martial legislation debacle and different legal allegations involving his spouse and administration.
