SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained in a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential compound Wednesday, defiantly insisting the anti-corruption agency didn’t have the authority to investigate his actions but saying he complied to prevent violence.
Investigators from the state anti-corruption agency and police officers make their way to the residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol to execute a warrant to detain Yoon in Seoul, South Korea on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials said Yoon was brought into custody about five hours after investigators arrived at the presidential compound and about three hours after they successfully entered the residence, in their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law.
The detainment warrant for Yoon, issued by the Seoul Western District Court, said there were substantial reasons to suspect that he committed crimes as a “ringleader of a rebellion.” Police officers were seen using wire cutters to remove the barbed wire placed by the presidential security service on the perimeter of the compound to block their entry. Some police officers used ladders to climb over rows of buses placed by the presidential security service near the compound’s entrance, and then the investigators began moving up the hilly compound.
Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which drove the legislative campaign that led to Yoon’s impeachment on December 14, said Yoon’s detention is the “first step toward restoring constitutional order, democracy, and realizing the rule of law.” Yoon’s lawyers have claimed that the detainment warrant issued by the Seoul Western District Court was invalid. They cited a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge—which would be Yoon. They also claimed that the anti-corruption agency had no legal authority to investigate rebellion allegations.
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