Yoon becomes first sitting Korean president to be arrested, stonewalls investigators

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Yoon becomes first sitting Korean president to be arrested, stonewalls investigators

Published: 15 Jan. 2025, 17:53 Updated: 17 Jan. 2025, 17:34

SARAH KIM
[email protected]

CHO JUNG-WOO
[email protected]

MICHAEL LEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

President Yoon Suk Yeol walks into the headquarters of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi on Jan. 15. [NEWS1]

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) arrested impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday, marking the first arrest of a sitting president in Korean history.

The CIO said it took Yoon into custody with help from police at his official residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan District, central Seoul, at 10:33 a.m., nearly six hours after investigators arrived at the scene.

Yoon’s arrest took place 12 days after the CIO failed in its first attempt to execute an arrest warrant against him and 43 days after his short-lived imposition of martial law, for which he has been accused of attempting to incite an insurrection.

A vehicle believed to be carrying Yoon was spotted arriving at 10:53 a.m. at the CIO’s headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi.

The CIO said in a Wednesday briefing that its investigators began questioning Yoon at 11 a.m., but that the president was exercising his right to remain silent.

When not under interrogation, Yoon will be held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi.

In a recorded statement released by the presidential office after his arrest, Yoon said he decided to allow himself to be detained by the CIO to “prevent unforunate bloodshed.” The video appeared to have been recorded before he left the presidential residence.

“Today, I decided to appear at the CIO to prevent unforunate bloodshed after seeing them violate the security perimeters [surrounding the presidential residence] with firefighting equipment,” he said.

However, the impeached president emphasized that his decision not to resist arrest does not mean he accepts the CIO’s right to investigate him.

Yoon and his legal team have argued that the CIO lacks the authority to investigate an incumbent president, but the CIO has argued that insurrection is one of the charges for which even a sitting president is not exempt from its purview.

The president’s legal team has alternately argued that the president should not face criminal investigation while the Constitutional Court deliberates on the validity of his impeachment, which was passed by the National Assembly on Dec. 14.

According to Yoon, the issuance of warrants “for agencies without investigative authority” signals the “complete collapse” of the rule of law in Korea.

“As the president tasked with protecting the Constitution and the laws of the Republic of Korea, my acquiescence to [the CIO’s] illegal and invalid procedures does not signify my approval of the investigation, but rather a desire to prevent unnecessary bloodshed,” he said.

In a handwritten letter uploaded to his Facebook account the same day, Yoon also argued that declaring martial law “is not a crime,” calling it instead “an exercise of presidential authority to overcome a national crisis.”

The CIO’s second attempt to arrest Yoon began under cover of darkness at around 4:20 a.m., when a motorcade ferrying the agency’s investigators and police officers arrived in front of the presidential residence, having departed the CIO’s headquarters 20 minutes prior.

Approximately 1,200 police personnel were dispatched to execute the warrant — around 10 times the number sent during the first attempt on Jan. 3.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the conservative People Power Party, center, speaks to reporters after President Yoon Suk Yeol was taken into custody at his official residence in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Jan. 15. [YONHAP]

At approximately 5:45 a.m., police and CIO investigators forcibly entered the compound, breaking past a human chain formed by lawmakers from Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP) and Yoon’s legal team at the entrance.

According to unnamed sources cited by the JoongAng Ilbo, Yoon told the PPP lawmakers that he tried to impose martial law “for the good of the country” and to “unveil the existence of pro-North Korean forces,” echoing his remarks during his martial law proclamation.

Yoon is also reported to have said, “What use would I be in office for two and a half more years when the country is full of pro-North leftists?”

The PPP lawmakers, who were told to disperse by police at the scene, included Reps. Kim Gi-hyeon, Yoon Sang-hyun and Na Kyung-won.

The CIO and police investigators cut through fences and used ladders to scale the outer barricade of vehicles parked around the residence by the Presidential Security Service (PSS), finally entering the presidential compound around 7:30 a.m.

After passing a second barricade inside the compound, investigators were met by presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk and one of Yoon’s attorneys, who led them past a third and final checkpoint for brief talks.

No significant resistance from the PSS was observed as investigators overcame the barricades to the residence, despite the security service characterizing the warrant against Yoon as “illegal” and announcing a day earlier it would respond to efforts to take him into custody according to security protocols.

Military units also did not attempt to block CIO investigators following remarks by a Defense Ministry official that the Capital Defense Command would not help the PSS prevent law enforcement from taking Yoon into custody.

During their first attempt to detain Yoon on Jan. 3, CIO investigators withdrew after a five-hour standoff with a combined force of 200 PSS and members of the 55th Guard Corps of the Capital Defense Command.

Under the Presidential Security Act, the 55th Guard Corps falls under the command of the PSS despite being an Army division as its main mission is to secure the area surrounding the presidential residence.

CIO officials managed to come within only 200 meters (656 feet) of the residence during the first arrest attempt.

In addition to dispatching personnel to help the CIO detain the president, police said they sent approximately 3,200 personnel to maintain public order and safety near the presidential residence, where thousands have gathered over the past few weeks to rally for and against Yoon’s arrest and removal from office following his botched martial law declaration on Dec. 3.

Presidential Security Service agents and members of President Yoon Suk Yeol's legal defense team, left, face off officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police officers dispatched to take Yoon into custody at his official residence in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Jan. 15. [YONHAP]

The dueling rallies picked up in intensity after Dec. 31, when the Seoul Western District Court approved an arrest warrant filed by the CIO against Yoon following his failure to respond to three summonses for questioning regarding his role in declaring martial law.

In addition to being accused of plotting an insurrection, Yoon has also been accused of abusing his presidential authority and conspiring with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and military brass to deploy troops to the National Assembly, where lawmakers gathered to overturn his decree, as well as three offices of the National Election Commission.

Though the warrant was due to expire on Jan. 6, the court issued an extension to allow the CIO more time to detain the impeached president.

To hold Yoon for longer than 48 hours, CIO investigators must request another warrant that would allow them to retain custody of the president for a maximum of eight more days.

The CIO is also legally obliged to refer the case to the state prosecution service if it wants to indict the president. Neither the CIO nor the police have the right to indict criminal suspects.

The prosecution can also hold Yoon for 10 days, excluding his time in the CIO’s custody, before it decides to indict him or not.

Update, Jan. 15: Comments from Yoon's letter added.

BY SARAH KIM, CHO JUNG-WOO AND MICHAEL LEE [[email protected]]