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ReutersSouth Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol has become the country’s first sitting president to be arrested, ending a weeks-long standoff between investigators and his bodyguards.
Yun, whose failed attempt to impose martial law plunged the country into turmoil and led to impeachment by parliament, is under investigation on sedition charges.
He is still technically president, however, as the constitutional court must decide whether his impeachment is valid.
Investigators used ladders and wire cutters in the freezing cold to reach Yun, whose Presidential Security Service (PSS) personnel had erected barricades in an attempt to thwart his arrest.
The 64-year-old leader said he had agreed to appear before the Corruption Perceptions Office (CIO) to avoid bloodshed.
In a three-minute video message, Yoon said he would comply with the investigation against him, even though he was against it.
He consistently argued that the warrant for his arrest was not legally valid.
Yun said he witnessed authorities “invading” the security perimeter of his home with firefighting equipment.
“I have decided to appear before the CIO even though it is an illegal investigation to prevent untoward bloodshed,” he said.
Tense scenes unfolded at dawn as the arrest team made their way past the barricades. Crowds of Yun’s supporters chanted “end to impeachment”, while a separate group of critics shouted “arrest him”.
More than 1,000 officers took part in Wednesday’s operation, which marked the second attempt by officers to arrest him.
The CIO who investigated Yoon before tried to arrest him on January 3 but they were blocked by buses and barbed wire.
They obtained the warrant after he ignored multiple subpoenas to appear for questioning.
On Wednesday, they came with tools to overcome obstacles, scaling parked cars with ladders and cutting through barbed wire fences.
Some managed to reach the presidential residence on a nearby tourist trail, local media reported.
Yun’s People’s Power Party denounced his arrest as “illegal,” and the group’s leader Kweon Seong-dong described Wednesday’s events as “deplorable.”
On the other hand, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Park Chan-dae, said that Yoon’s arrest showed that “justice in South Korea is alive”.
This arrest “is the first step towards restoring constitutional order, democracy and the rule of law,” he said during a party meeting.
The country is currently led by Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president. He was brought to power after the first sitting president, Han Duck-soo was also impeached by the opposition majority in parliament.
Yoon is expected to be detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the CIO office.
However, if the court does not issue a detention order within 48 hours of Yun’s arrest, he will be released and free to return to the presidential residence.
Yoon has been questioned by investigators but has invoked his right to remain silent.
Although the arrest of a sitting president is a landmark for South Korean politics, the country’s political crisis is far from over. This is just another phase in the unfolding political drama.
The crowds outside Yun’s house on Wednesday morning highlighted the country’s deep divisions.
The anti-Yun crowd cheered, clapped and chanted a song of “congratulations and celebrations” when his arrest was announced.
The atmosphere is completely different from the other side.
“We are very upset and angry – the rule of law has broken down,” a Yun supporter told the BBC.
The standoff also pitted two branches of the executive branch against each other: law enforcement officers armed with a legal arrest warrant and presidential security officers who said they had a duty to protect the ousted president.
Even before martial law was declared, Yun was reduced to a lame-duck leader as the opposition party held a majority in parliament.
He also faces controversy regarding his wife I receive a Dior bag as a gift.
