Yoon Suk Yeol has become the first sitting president in South Korea’s history to be arrested, following a dramatic operation in which investigators overcame barricades and cut through barbed wire to detain him.
The 64-year-old leader faces insurrection charges linked to a failed martial law order on December 3, which triggered widespread unrest.
Although impeached by parliament and suspended from office, Yoon will remain president until the Constitutional Court rules on his impeachment.
His arrest on Wednesday marked the end of a tense standoff between investigators and his presidential security team that lasted for weeks.
An earlier attempt by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) to detain Yoon on January 3 ended in a six-hour deadlock.
However, in a pre-dawn operation on Wednesday, approximately 1,000 investigators launched a coordinated effort to breach the president’s heavily guarded residence in central Seoul.
Using ladders to scale buses, bolt cutters to slice through wire, and trails to bypass walls, the team eventually gained entry.
In a video statement released shortly before his arrest, Yoon described the warrant as “legally invalid” but said he would cooperate to avoid “unsavoury bloodshed.”
He criticized the authorities for “invading” his residence’s security perimeter.
By afternoon, investigators confirmed Yoon’s arrest, noting that he had remained silent during questioning.
His legal team decried the process as “illegal,” arguing that the CIO lacks jurisdiction over insurrection charges and that the warrant was issued incorrectly.
Despite these objections, officials from the Supreme Court and Justice Ministry insisted the arrest was lawful.
Opposition Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae hailed the arrest, saying it demonstrated that “justice in South Korea is alive.”
He described it as “the first step toward restoring constitutional order, democracy, and the rule of law.”
The nation is currently led by Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president after the first acting president, Han Duck-soo, was impeached by the opposition-majority parliament.
Yoon is being held at the Seoul Detention Centre in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, roughly 5km (3 miles) from the CIO’s headquarters.
If a court does not issue a detention warrant within 48 hours, Yoon will be released and allowed to return home.
The arrest has polarized South Koreans. Pro-Yoon supporters gathered outside the detention center, expressing anger and claiming the rule of law had “broken down.”
Meanwhile, anti-Yoon demonstrators celebrated the arrest, cheering and playing celebratory music upon hearing the news.
“While there is broad consensus that Yoon must be held accountable for the martial law order, opinions differ sharply on what accountability should look like,” Duyeon Kim, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told the BBC.
The stark divisions on display highlight the deepening political crisis and the uncertainty looming over the nation’s future.
Source-BBC
