In South Korea, President Yoon Suk-yeol finally arrested after his attempt to impose martial law

Yoon Suk-yeol is the first sitting president to be arrested in the Asian country's history.

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was finally arrested on Wednesday January 15 during a new assault by investigators. This is an unprecedented measure, mirroring the political crisis caused by his failed attempt to impose martial law in early December. Never before has a sitting head of state been arrested in South Korea.

After an initial raid which turned into a fiasco at the beginning of January, agents from the Bureau for the Investigation of Corruption of High Personalities and the police showed up in large numbers, before dawn, at the residence of the man who had been living in hiding for weeks in an upscale neighborhood of Seoul.

After having to cross the surrounding wall by ladders under the eyes of thousands of supporters of the right-wing leader, the team of investigators announced that they had apprehended the president at 10:33 a.m. (local time), before taking him to his local.

Under impeachment proceedings, Yoon Suk-yeol is in turmoil for having briefly introduced martial law on December 3, a shock measure reminiscent of the dark hours of the military dictatorship. He then justified it by his desire to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces” and“eliminate elements hostile to the State”.

Suspended by deputies and targeted by an investigation for “rebellion”a crime punishable by death, Yoon Suk-yeol had until then always refused to explain himself, pushing prosecutors to use arrest warrants in order to force him to do so.

His interrogation began at 11 a.m. (local time). He can be held in police custody for forty-eight hours under the current warrant. Investigators will have to request a new one to possibly extend his detention.