South Korean legislation enforcement officers detain impeached President Yoon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean legislation enforcement officers on Wednesday detained impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his temporary imposition of martial legislation final month. In a video message recorded earlier than he was escorted to the headquarters of an anti-corruption company, Yoon lamented that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country” however stated he was complying with the detention warrant to stop clashes between legislation enforcement officers and the presidential safety service.

A sequence of black SUVs, some outfitted with sirens, have been seen leaving the presidential compound amid police escorts. A car apparently carrying Yoon later arrived on the Corruption Investigation Workplace for Excessive-Rating Officers within the close by metropolis of Gwacheon.

Yoon was introduced into custody about three hours after lots of of legislation enforcement officers entered the residential compound of their second try and detain him over his imposition of martial legislation final month.

Yoon’s legal professionals tried to steer investigators to not execute the detention warrant, saying the president would voluntarily seem for questioning, however the company declined.

The officers seemingly encountered no significant resistance from presidential safety forces as they approached Yoon’s residence and there have been no instant reviews of clashes.

Greater than a thousand anti-corruption investigators and law enforcement officials may very well be deployed within the operation to apprehend Yoon, who has been holed up within the Hannam-dong residence within the capital, Seoul, for weeks whereas vowing to “fight to the end” in opposition to the efforts to oust him.

Yoon has justified his declaration of martial legislation Dec. 3 as a professional act of governance in opposition to an “anti-state” opposition using its legislative majority to thwart his agenda.

The anti-corruption company is main a joint investigation with police and the army over whether or not Yoon’s martial legislation declaration amounted to an tried insurrection and sought to convey him into custody after he ignored a number of summons for questioning. They’ve pledged extra forceful measures to detain him after the presidential safety service blocked their preliminary efforts on Jan. 3.

Investigators from the state anti-corruption company and law enforcement officials make their solution to the residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to execute a warrant to detain Yoon in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.

Ahn Younger-joon/AP

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Ahn Younger-joon/AP

The scene on the compound

Following an hourslong standoff on the compound’s gate, anti-corruption investigators and law enforcement officials have been seen shifting up the hilly compound. Law enforcement officials have been earlier seen utilizing ladders to climb over rows of buses positioned by the presidential safety service close to the compound’s entrance.

Anti-corruption investigators and police later arrived in entrance of a metallic gate with a gold presidential mark that is close to Yoon’s residential constructing. Some officers have been seen coming into a safety door on the facet of the metallic gate, joined by considered one of Yoon’s legal professionals and his chief of workers. The presidential safety service later eliminated a bus and different automobiles that had been parked tightly contained in the gate as a barricade.

Regardless of a courtroom warrant for Yoon’s detention, the presidential safety service has insisted it is obligated to guard the impeached president and has fortified the compound with barbed wire and rows of buses blocking paths.

If investigators handle to detain Yoon Suk Yeol, they’ll possible ask a courtroom for permission to make a proper arrest. In any other case, he will probably be launched after 48 hours.

The preparations and the considerations

As tensions escalated, South Korea’s performing chief, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, issued an announcement early Wednesday urging legislation enforcement and the presidential safety service to make sure there are not any “physical clashes.”

The liberal opposition Democratic Occasion, which drove a legislative marketing campaign that led to Yoon’s impeachment on Dec. 14, issued an announcement calling for the presidential safety service to face down and cooperate with Yoon’s detention. Lawmakers from Yoon’s Individuals Energy Occasion held a rally close to the presidential residence, decrying the efforts to detain him as illegal.

The Nationwide Police Company has convened a number of conferences of subject commanders in Seoul and close by Gyeonggi province in latest days to plan their detainment efforts, and the scale of these forces fueled hypothesis that greater than a thousand officers may very well be deployed in a potential multiday operation. The company and police have brazenly warned that presidential bodyguards obstructing the execution of the warrant may very well be arrested.

Yoon’s legal professionals have claimed that the detainment warrant issued by the Seoul Western District Court docket was invalid. They cited a legislation that protects places doubtlessly linked to army secrets and techniques from search with out the consent of the individual in cost — which might be Yoon. The courtroom warrant for Yoon’s detainment is legitimate by means of Jan. 21.

Yoon’s supporters and critics have held competing protests close to the residence — one facet vowing to guard him, the opposite calling for his imprisonment — whereas hundreds of law enforcement officials in yellow jackets intently monitored the tense state of affairs.

What led to this

Yoon declared martial legislation and deployed troops across the Nationwide Meeting on Dec. 3. It lasted solely hours earlier than lawmakers managed to get by means of the blockade and vote to carry the measure.

Yoon’s presidential powers have been suspended when the opposition-dominated meeting voted to question him on Dec. 14, accusing him of insurrection. His destiny now rests with the Constitutional Court docket, which has begun deliberating on whether or not to formally take away Yoon from workplace or reject the fees and reinstate him.

The Constitutional Court docket held its first formal listening to within the case on Tuesday, however the session lasted lower than 5 minutes as a result of Yoon refused to attend. The subsequent listening to is about for Thursday, and the courtroom will then proceed with the trial whether or not or not Yoon is there.