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South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday morning following a predawn raid by police and investigators on his fortified hilltop compound.
Yoon’s detention adopted a six-hour stand-off between regulation enforcement officers and members of the president’s safety element. It’s the first time in South Korea’s historical past {that a} sitting president has been arrested.
The event marks the most recent twist in a political disaster that was triggered by his failed try to impose martial regulation final month, and which has shaken confidence within the democratic integrity of Asia’s fourth-largest financial system.
Yoon was suspended from his duties after he was impeached by parliament in December following his try to impose martial regulation. The nation is at the moment being led by finance minister Choi Sang-mok as appearing president.
The operation on Wednesday, which started shortly after 4am, was the second try this month by the CIO to detain Yoon for questioning on rebellion and abuse of workplace fees.
An preliminary effort earlier this month was foiled by Yoon’s safety officers following a tense hours-long stand-off on the presidential residence. Yoon had beforehand refused to adjust to investigators and had challenged their authority to deliver him in for questioning.
“The rule of regulation has fully collapsed on this nation,” Yoon mentioned in a video assertion recorded earlier than his switch to the headquarters of the nation’s Corruption Investigation Workplace for questioning. “I’ve determined to seem for CIO questioning so as to forestall any bloodshed.”
Based on South Korea’s state-owned information company Yonhap, police and officers from the CIO arrived on the compound early on Wednesday and introduced a warrant for Yoon’s arrest however have been once more initially prevented from coming into by the Presidential Safety Service.
Yonhap additionally reported that about 30 lawmakers from Yoon’s conservative Folks Energy celebration have been on the compound and trying to forestall officers from coming into it.
However with a whole lot of police gathered exterior, a few of them outfitted with ladders and wire cutters to beat barricades erected by Yoon’s safety officers, CIO officers have been ultimately allowed to enter the residence.
Yoon’s attorneys initially tried to dealer a deal whereby he would give up voluntarily for questioning. However this was not accepted by CIO officers, and he was ultimately arrested simply after 10.30am and transferred to the investigative company’s headquarters.
“Yoon’s arrest is step one in direction of restoring our constitutional order,” mentioned Park Chan-dae, flooring chief of the leftwing opposition Democratic Get together of Korea. “It underlines that justice remains to be alive.”
Whereas Yoon’s powers have been transferred to Choi as appearing president, he stays South Korea’s head of state whereas the nation’s Constitutional Court docket deliberates on whether or not to approve his impeachment or reinstate him in workplace.
The courtroom held its first formal listening to into Yoon’s impeachment on Tuesday, however the session was adjourned after 4 minutes as a result of the suspended president declined to attend, citing issues for his private security.
The efforts by the CIO and police to detain Yoon for questioning pertains to a separate, prison course of linked to his failed imposition of martial regulation. Yoon’s attorneys insist the CIO has no standing to pursue prison rebellion fees towards him.
