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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JANUARY 15: Investigators arrive at the entrance to the presidential residence of Yoon Suk Yeol as authorities try to serve an arrest warrant on January 15, 2025 in Seoul, South Korea.
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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday by the country’s High-ranking Corruption Investigation Bureau, the first for a South Korean leader.
This was the second bid to arrest the ousted president, after agents from South Korea’s Presidential Security Service blocked investigators from entering Yoon’s residence on January 3.
Unlike the first attempt, “this time, there were no people or security personnel actively obstructing the execution, and there was no significant physical altercation,” the CIO said.
About 3,000 police officers were involved in the second attempt to secure access to Yoon’s compound, Yonhap news agency said.
Even the South Korean media Yoon announced in a pre-recorded video He said that “the law of the land has collapsed” and called the CIO’s investigation “illegal”. Yoon said he would appear before the CIO “to avoid unpleasant bloodshed,” according to a Google translation of the Korean-language reports.
Blue-chip South Korean stocks reacted weakly to the news Kospi Up 0.21% and small Kosdaq down 0.44%.
The won weakened slightly against the US dollar, and was last at 1,459.75. The benchmark 10-year South Korean bond yield also rose.
The CIO initially sought the arrest warrant after Yoon failed to appear for questioning issued on December 31 by a Seoul District Court. After initially expiring on January 6, the order was extended.
Yoon is charged with rebellion following the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, which is not subject to presidential immunity and carries a maximum penalty of death.
Yoon made a surprise late-night broadcast and declared martial law last month, citing the need to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces” and “anti-state forces”. It was the first time martial law had been declared in South Korea in 40 years.
Lawmakers then managed to break through police barricades and vote the declaration in the country’s parliament, before introducing impeachment motions against Yoon a few days later. Yoon was indicted on December 14 and resigned.
It has been done by the Constitutional Court of South Korea He opened the impeachment trial on January 14 against Yoon, but postponed to January 16 after Yoon failed to appear.
