South Korea’s President Yoon arrested after ill-fated martial legislation try | Politics News | USAEMALL.com

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Investigators used ladders to climb into President Yoon Suk-yeol’s compound after he failed to appear at his impeachment trial.

South Korean investigators have arrested South Korea’s suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol just under six weeks after he imposed martial law in a move swiftly overturned by the country’s National Assembly.

“The Joint Investigation Headquarters executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol today (January 15) at 10:33 am (01:30 GMT),” the authorities, who are probing Yoon on insurrection charges, said in a statement.

South Korean investigators had used ladders to climb into the residential compound of the impeached president earlier on Wednesday, Yonhap reports.

The investigators were initially blocked by the Presidential Security Service, which barricaded the entrance using vehicles, as well as a group of lawmakers from the governing conservative People Power Party and Yoon’s lawyers, Yonhap said.

Seok Dong-hyeon, a long-time friend and adviser to Yoon, later said that the President was prepared to participate in questioning if authorities pulled back from his residence, the Reuters news agency reported.

Acting President Choi Sang-mok called for calm in a statement, urging for the need to avoid physical contact between state agencies.

“I will sternly hold those responsible if unfortunate events occur,” he said.

The standoff at Yoon’s presidential residence followed just hours after he failed to appear for the first hearing in his impeachment trial over his short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3.

Patrick Fok, reporting for Al Jazeera from Seoul, said an estimated 1,000 police officers were involved in the arrest operation at the president’s residence.

Thousands of people had gathered outside Yoon’s home, including those chanting messages of support for the impeached president.

The operation on Wednesday was the second attempt by investigator to arrest Yoon after an earlier failed attempt ended after an hours-long standoff with his security team inside the presidential compound at the beginning of January.

Since then, Yoon had remained inside his hillside villa in Seoul for weeks in an effort to evade arrest. He also failed to show up for his impeachment trial on Tuesday morning, leading to the hearings being adjourned minutes after they had begun.

The president’s lawyers had said he would not attend the impeachment hearing, adding that he would be prevented from expressing his position freely due to authorities’ ongoing attempts to detain him.

The trial is being held after South Korea’s National Assembly voted on December 14 to impeach Yoon, after he imposed martial law in a surprise late-night address on December 3, 2024.