Iit’s the only disagreement that has gone from weird to embarrassing. On Wednesday morning, hundreds of investigators finally entered the fenced compound in Seoul where South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been held since he was impeached in mid-December over an earlier declaration of martial law that prosecutors argued was treason.
In issuing the arrest warrant—the first against a sitting South Korean president—law enforcement officials avoided repeating the tense scenes from Jan. 3, when they were prevented from arresting Yoon for five and a half hours by his security personnel, before taking a short break. In agreeing to comply with investigators, Yoon remained defiant, insisting in a video message that he surrendered only to “avoid bloodshed” following previous clashes between the police and his supporters.
“President Yoon has decided to appear in person at the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) today,” Yoon’s lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, wrote on Facebook. Television footage shows a motorcade leaving the presidential residence. Yoon can be detained and questioned for up to 48 hours, according to South Korean law, a period that includes a scheduled court appearance.
Yoon’s arrest marks the latest chapter in a confusing series of events that followed his Dec. 3 declaration of martial law—when he became the first South Korean leader to place his country under martial law since democracy in the late 1980s. The opposition-led National Assembly quickly rejected the move, prompting the embattled President to send troops to try to take over the legislature and arrest his political enemies. Prosecutors say this amounts to treason—a crime in South Korea punishable by life in prison or the death penalty.
Since then, Yoon has been held behind bars in his hilltop castle in the heart of Seoul’s Hannam-dong district, dubbed the “Beverly Hills of Korea,” whose residents include tycoons and K-pop royalty. Yoon is the first South Korean in modern times to refuse to live in the ancient Blue House, calling it a symbol of the state’s decline, and instead controversially renovated the Foreign Minister’s residence at great expense.
The following is unclear. While the criminal investigation against Yoon continues, the country’s Constitutional Court is debating whether the impeachment vote and his removal from office were legal. Regardless of the final outcome, the saga has shaken South Korean politics and caused confusion among allies including the US at a time when regional power is in flux.
Arch-nemesis North Korea has been sending troops to help Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and sharpening its ballistic missile capabilities, while China is building up its military capabilities. At the same time, incoming US President Donald Trump has repeatedly questioned the importance of the East Asian nation’s alliances.
Besides Yoon, the top officials under investigation include the former defense minister, the head of the Army Special Warfare Command, and the head of the Defense Intelligence Command, raising major questions about the country’s security preparedness.
The ongoing unrest in South Korea “is to their advantage,” said Daniel Pinkston, a visiting professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, about China and North Korea. “The question is how much they want to exploit it.”
Yoon’s impeachment was also deeply divisive at home. As officials with “police” and “CIO” in their coats used ladders to climb on top of the buses blocking the road to Yoon’s residence and tried to enter through a nearby mountain pass, scores of his supporters gathered at the entrance hurling insults. Many displayed US flags and banners calling for “the CCP to be kicked out” in reference to unsubstantiated claims of election fraud by the Chinese Communist Party. Meanwhile, a group of anti-Yoon protesters cheered the authorities as they entered the compound.
To this day, viewers are still confused about the purpose of Yoon’s rescinded power grab. Representing the conservative People Power Party, he was already acting President after the opposition Democratic Party won a legislative majority in elections earlier this year. His disgraced five-year term was set to end in 2027, making him unlikely to be re-elected due to term limits, although he chose to plunge South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades, reviving the memory of the dark days of military rule. and shaking the foundations of this vibrant democracy of 50 million people.
“Everyone is still scratching our heads together,” Pinkston said. “What makes sense? What is the end game? There was no good result. It’s just confusing.”
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