South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been released from a detention center after a court canceled his arrest warrant. On Friday (March 7), a South Korean court accepted his legal team’s request to cancel his arrest. The request was filed by the suspended president’s lawyers last month. They argued that Yoon’s detention was unlawful because the prosecution waited too long to indict him.
One and a half month back, in the month of January, a court in Seoul had extended the time South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol will be detained over his botched attempt to impose martial law in the country last month. Citing concerns that Yoon could destroy evidence if released, a judge had issued a warrant allowing investigators to keep the suspended president in custody for up to 20 days.
The 64-year-old was arrested after a weeks-long standoff between investigators and his presidential security team. Supporters of the president had broken into the court after his detention was extended, reportedly smashing windows and doors in an incident condemned by Yoon and the country’s acting President.
The warrant – and Yoon’s subsequent refusal to comply with investigators – was then the latest development in a saga that had left South Korea reeling from a political crisis.
Charges of Insurrection
The suspended President was being investigated by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) on charges of insurrection over a failed martial law order on 3 December that had plunged the country into turmoil. He had been impeached by parliament and suspended – but will only be removed from office if a constitutional court upholds the impeachment.
Investigators then had 20 days – including the four days Yoon had already spent in custody following his arrest – to bring the President to trial. After his detention was extended, Yoon’s lawyer, Yun Gap-geun, told the Yonhap News Agency that the President would refuse to be questioned by the CIO.
Pro-Yoon supporters had rallied outside the court house in the lead up to the decision, with many entering the building after judges had issued the extension. Dozens of people were also then arrested by police following the incident.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok had expressed his “strong regret” over the violence, “which is unimaginable in a democratic society”, adding that authorities would increase security around future appearances. Yoon was “shocked” by the scenes in court, his lawyer said, and had called on his supporters to express themselves peacefully.
The incident was the latest episode in a series of attempts by Yoon’s supporters to frustrate legal proceedings against the president. The night before his arrest, hundreds of pro-Yoon protesters had camped outside the President’s home and jostled with the police officers attempting to take him into custody. Similar scenes had occurred during an earlier arrest attempt on January 3, where angry pro-Yoon supporters hoping to stop the arrest rallied outside the President’s house.
Then, South Korean police were forced to call off their first arrest attempt after the president’s security team had blocked entry to Yoon’s compound. Public opinion had been divided after Yoon’s shock announcement of martial law last month, which he claimed was due to “anti-state forces” in the South Korean parliament, while mentioning North Korea.
But others had viewed the move as an extreme reaction to the political stalemate that arose after his party’s main opposition had won a landslide, as well as Yoon’s unpopularity in the wake of a scandal surrounding the First Lady.
Thousands had taken to the streets to demonstrate against the suspended President in the weeks since his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law.
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