South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been arrested by law enforcement officials in a second attempt, following his controversial imposition of a short-lived martial law in the country last month, according to Reuters.
Yoon, currently under investigation for charges of insurrection, has become the first sitting president in South Korea’s history to be taken into custody.
A motorcade was seen departing the gates of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s hillside residence, where he had been barricaded for weeks behind barbed wire and surrounded by a contingent of personal security.
Earlier, over 3,000 police officers and anti-corruption investigators gathered at the site before dawn, navigating through crowds of Yoon’s supporters and members of the ruling People Power Party protesting his potential detention.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued that the attempts to detain him are unlawful and intended to publicly humiliate him. Notably, the arrest warrant secured by investigators marks the first ever issued against a sitting South Korean president.
As local news outlets speculated on the timing of Yoon’s possible detention, minor clashes broke out between tearful pro-Yoon demonstrators and police near the residence, according to a Reuters witness.
Yoon’s declaration of martial law last month shocked South Koreans, throwing one of Asia’s most robust democracies into a state of unprecedented political upheaval. Lawmakers voted on December 14 to impeach him and strip him of his presidential duties.
Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court is deliberating on whether to uphold the impeachment, which would permanently remove Yoon from office.