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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested by anti-corruption officers at the presidential residence in a dramatic operation involving over 1,000 officers using ladders and pliers to bypass bus barricades and barbed wire. This was officers second attempt to arrest the sitting President, after an attempt earlier this month was blocked by barricades and security officers.
The operation is believed to have begun in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with investigators sealing off streets around the compound with police buses. An unarmed team of investigators from the CIO (Corruption Investigation Office) were allegedly blocked from entering the residence by unidentified personnel at the entrance gate and were later involved in clashes with those defending the residence. Both pro-Yoon and anti-Yoon protestors have surrounded the roads outside the residence.
Yoon’s arrest follows his earlier December 3rd implementation of martial law, a decision he argues was justified in the face of a liberal opposition that used its majority to sabotage his legislative agenda. Yoon dispatched troops to surround the National Assembly and prevent legislators from cancelling his decree, a plan that was thwarted by legislators climbing over fences to reach the assembly and voting unanimously to end martial law. One video of a legislator grabbing a soldier’s rifle and yelling “aren’t you ashamed?” went viral on social media, in what was a momentous day for Korean democracy.
Yoon, who is being investigated under insurrection charges, is the first ever sitting South Korean president to be arrested. He was previously impeached by lawmakers on December 14th as a result of the martial law incident. Yoon’s presidency has been beset by scandal: his wife was accused of inappropriately accepting a Christian Dior handbag as a gift, leading to calls for a probe into alleged financial misconduct involving his wife and her mother.
South Korean authorities now have 48 hours to question Yoon after which they are required to seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days or release him. Yoon has claimed that the warrant to arrest him was “illegal” and that “the rule of law has collapsed in this country.” Investigation by the CIO into Yoon’s conduct is ongoing, and public opinion is heavily divided. The investigation is compounded by Korea’s hyper-polarized political landscape, with political commentators watching closely to determine how the country navigates this difficult time for its’ democracy.
City Skyline at Night by Yohan Cho // Unsplash License
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