The South Korean authorities managed to complete the arrest of the ousted South Korean president Yoon Suk-Yeol this Wednesday, after his prolonged attempt to access his residence and after the president agreed to appear before the anti-corruption office that is investigating him.
Yoon’s arrest warrant was executed at 10:33 local time (01:33 GMT), according to the Office for Corruption Cases of Senior Officials (CIO), as reported by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.
The CIO is one of the entities that, together with the Police and other state agencies, are investigating the president for his fleeting declaration of martial law last December and who had traveled to the place at dawn today for a second arrest attempt. , after another failed attack at the beginning of the month.
Yoon was seen shortly after the announcement entering the CIO headquarters for questioning, while a previously recorded message was broadcast from his residence in Yongsan, central Seoul, in which he declared that he had decided to appear before the authorities. despite their “illegal investigation” to avoid potential “bloodshed.”
The president said that he considers that the proceedings opened against him are “illegal and invalid” and added: “The rule of law has completely collapsed in this country,” while he hoped that no South Korean citizen “will ever have to endure such injustices in dealing with criminal cases in the future.”
The first president arrested
Yoon began being interrogated at the CIO headquarters about half an hour after his arrest, in a room with video and in the presence of his legal representatives, the agency said.
His lawyers are scheduled to give a press conference in the next few hours where more details about this would be known.
It is the first time that a South Korean president has been arrested while in office, although Yoon was stripped of his duties in a motion approved by Parliament on December 14.
Shortly before the arrest, the president’s legal team had distributed a statement stating that Yoon had decided to appear voluntarily in the face of foreseeable clashes between his security service and the authorities, and reports of injuries among protesters gathered at the doors of his residence. , for and against his arrest.
The authorities moved around 05:20 local time (20:20 GMT on Tuesday) to Yoon’s residence to try to proceed with the arrest, but their first attempts were blocked by the human chain formed by the presidential security services and the police. lines of vehicles that they placed around the premises.
Several hours later, investigators managed to access the premises using ladders and had been negotiating with representatives of the deposed president to carry out the order.
Yoon is investigated by the anti-corruption office, the Police and the Ministry of Defense for an alleged crime of insurrection linked to his declaration of martial law last month, the only one from which a South Korean president is not immune.
The Police, who deployed some 3,000 troops for today’s operation, cordoned off the area while broadcasting successive messages over the public address system warning those who prevented the execution of the arrest that they could be detained for obstruction of the law.
Some 6,500 Yoon supporters also gathered around the venue, while around thirty parliamentarians from the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) moved to the outskirts of the presidential residence to protest against the order.
Yoon had been hiding in his residence since the National Assembly ousted him in mid-December.
In parallel to the criminal investigation for which he was arrested, the Constitutional Court opened a procedure that will determine whether Yoon’s disqualification is definitive or if, on the contrary, he is restored to office.
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