Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, January 15, 2025 Real World News
On Jan. 3, some 200 of South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol’s security team repelled a raid attempting to arrest him on allegations of “insurrection” for his declaration of martial law last month which was precipitated by the conservative president’s election fraud investigation.
Sound familiar?
Despite continued confusion concerning the legal authority for the arrest warrant obtained by the opposition party, Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the second attempt to arrest the president proceeded without incident. Yoon had charged that the DPK obtained a super majority due to election fraud in 2024 and said he declared martial law in order to obtain records from the National Election Commission (NEC).
In a pre-dawn raid on Wednesday, 1,100 police and investigators rushed Yoon’s presidential residence in central Seoul and he was taken into custody without confrontation, reports say.
More than 1,000 police were sent to arrest South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol on Wednesday. / Video Images“Unfortunately, the rule of law in this country has collapsed completely,” Yoon said in a statement issued before his arrest.
The Wall Street Journal reported that dozens of Yoon’s ruling party lawmakers and officials had tried to block the entrance to no avail while thousands of protesters who opposed the arrest, waving red glow sticks from the sidewalks, shouted: “President Yoon Suk Yeol!”
South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), is heading the Yoon investigation.
“I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation, despite it being an illegal investigation, to prevent unsavory bloodshed,” Yoon said.
Korea analyst Lawrence Peck noted: “South Korea’s pro-U.S., conservative President Yoon has been arrested on a charge of ‘insurrection.’ He was thus not allowed to attend his impeachment trial in court. Prosecutors arrested him based on a warrant issued by a court which reportedly does not have jurisdiction, after their attempt to obtain the warrant from the court which did have jurisdiction was apparently rejected.”
Peck added:
“The pro-China, leftist Democratic Party of Korea, which impeached Yoon, has also charged several legislators from Yoon’s party and several conservative YouTube show hosts with being ‘accomplices to insurrection.’ The Democratic Party is now urging its supporters to report any online comments or text messages by conservatives expressing support for Yoon, so that such ordinary people can also be charged as ‘accomplices to insurrection’ by spreading ‘fake news.’ The Democratic Party is further seeking to pass a bill which would impose a long prison sentence on those who make allegations of election fraud.
“In their first list of impeachment charges against Yoon, the Democratic Party accused him of ‘treason’ over the abortive, several hour martial law episode in early December, and also charged him with being ‘hostile’ to China, North Korea, and Russia. The Democratic Party refused to pass a bill that would allow arrest of Chinese Communist spies in Korea, who are not subject to arrest as spies due to a loophole in current law, but the Democratic Party is instead proposing legislation to criminalize the sending of anti-communist leaflets to North Korea.”
About halfway through a five-year term set to end in 2027, Yoon has said his move to impose martial law, which led to the insurrection accusations against him, was to save the country from falling prey to North Korean “communist forces” and to ward off a constitutional crisis brought about by the opposition-controlled legislature, which he called a “den of thieves.”
In a handwritten letter uploaded to his Facebook page after his arrest Wednesday, Yoon said he his move to declare emergency powers last month, which would have brought political activity, the media and health services under government control, was an act of governance and therefore not subject to legal scrutiny.
“Citizens, martial law is not a crime,” Yoon wrote. “Martial law is the exercise of the president’s authority to overcome a national crisis.”
After the arrest, special investigators had 48 hours to request a formal arrest warrant that would keep Yoon in detention as the criminal investigation against him unfolds. If a judge declines, Yoon would walk free.
Yoon was moved from the CIO headquarters to a nearby detention center, where he was being held overnight in solitary confinement “due to safety reasons,” the facility told CNN.
The Journal noted: “Yoon, by South Korean law, has the right not to answer questions from investigators, legal experts say. Insurrection is one of the few crimes that fall outside of South Korea’s presidential immunity. Investigators say they have prepared roughly 200 pages of questions. During the first hours of questioning, Yoon refused to testify, investigators said.”
South Korea’s leadership vacuum has paralyzed Seoul at a critical moment, with President-elect Donald Trump taking office on Jan. 20, North Korea test-firing missiles, and the country reeling from a plane crash that killed 179 people.
The rush to arrest Yoon comes as his separate impeachment trial begins. South Korea’s constitutional court, which plays a similar role to the U.S. Senate in impeachment cases, has until mid-May to certify the legislature’s mid-December impeachment of Yoon. But it is expected to move much more quickly than that.
Yoon skipped the trial’s opening hearing on Tuesday, with his lawyer citing security concerns. If the court upholds the impeachment, Yoon will be ousted from office, losing his presidential immunity and Secret Service protection. A snap election must then be held within 60 days. Opposition party leader Lee Jae-Myung is seen as the current front-runner.
The country is now led by the No. 3 official in line for the presidency, Finance Minister Choi Sang-Mok following the impeachments last month of Yoon and his successor, Prime Minister Han Duck-Soo, who was criticized for not making judicial appointments to the court reviewing Yoon’s impeachment.
Why does DPK/CIO want to arrest & jail S Korean president so badly?
Jailing pretrial is only in case of likely flight or evidence tempering.-He’s already effectively under house arrest. He hasn’t gone anywhere.
-Tamper Evidence? That’s laughable. The “evidence” for impeachment…
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) January 15, 2025
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‘Insurrection,’ East: Conservative president who sought to investigate election fraud arrested in Seoul added by Editor Two on January 15, 2025
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