Following a weeks-long battle with authorities, impeached South Korean leader Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on Wednesday for his unsuccessful attempt to impose martial law. He became the first sitting president to be held in the history of the country.
Yoon promised to cooperate with investigators in order to prevent “bloodshed” after being charged with insurrection for his brief attempt to implement martial law last month.
If convicted of insurrection, Yoon, a former prosecutor who helped the conservative People Power Party (PPP) win an election in 2022, might be sentenced to death or life in prison.
For weeks, he had tried to avoid being arrested by staying in his home compound, shielded by devoted officers of the Presidential Security Service (PSS).
His guards had made the house into what the opposition referred to as a “fortress” by erecting barricades and barbed wire.
After a heated stalemate between the guards and police-affiliated anti-graft investigators, Yoon, who had pledged to “fight to the end,” was able to block a first arrest attempt on January 3.
However, a CIO official told reporters that investigators had to cut barbed wire and get past bus obstacles to enter the compound after presenting the updated warrant to Yoon’s guards before dawn on Wednesday.
The house was encircled by hundreds of police officers and Corruption Investigation Office investigators, some of whom scaled the outer walls and ascended back paths to get to the main structure.
The impeached leader broadcast a pre-recorded video message after authorities declared Yoon had been detained following a roughly five-hour standoff.
“I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Office,” Yoon said in the message, adding that he did not accept the legality of the investigation but was complying “to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed”.
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