January 16, 2025
Seoul/Gwacheon – President Yoon Seok-yeol was detained in a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential palace on Wednesday on charges of plotting rebellion and abusing power, becoming the first sitting president to be detained in South Korea’s history.
The second attempt by the joint investigative team lasted nearly seven hours: from 4:10 a.m., when a team of about 1,100 investigators and police officers began to arrive at the presidential palace, to 11 a.m. when the president was taken to the presidential palace headquarters. The Senior Official Corruption Investigation Office in Gwacheon City, Gyeonggi Province, is located 16 kilometers south of the Hannam-dong compound in Yongsan District, central Seoul.
The CIO, the agency leading the joint investigation, said it began an investigation into Yin's declaration of martial law on December 3 at 11 a.m. – If it petitions the court for an additional formal arrest warrant, citing a flight risk.
While he is being investigated, the CIO must hand the case over to the prosecutor's office for prosecution. Only prosecutors have the power to prosecute the president, while the chief information officer has the power to investigate presidential abuses of power. Prosecutors can also hold him for another 10 days before deciding whether to charge him.
Yin was detained 43 days after martial law was suddenly declared on December 3, plunging the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
He was identified as the mastermind behind the so-called martial law riots and was accused of conspiring with former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and others to deploy armed forces to blockade the National Assembly to prevent the lifting of martial law. Secretary Kim and other generals involved in the conspiracy have been arrested and charged. At a news conference Wednesday afternoon, the chief information officer said Yoon was exercising his right to remain silent but was unsure of the reasons behind his silence.
” The interrogation lasted from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. He refused to be recorded and continued to remain silent. A lunchbox was provided but we did not confirm if he ate it.
The official added that the information chief did not clear an entire floor or building for Yin to interrogate.
He said: “For the safety of the president, some Public Security Bureau personnel are stationed on the third floor, which is the video interrogation room, to conduct interrogations.”
The chief information officer also confirmed that the president will be held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.
Asked about the possibility of holding the president in another facility, the CIO official said the Seoul Detention Center was the facility named in the arrest warrant issued by the court.
Hours after his detention, Yoon expressed his desire to resist and fight what he called “parliamentary dictatorship” in a long handwritten letter posted on his Facebook account.
“As a president with the power to defend the Constitution, resisting and fighting are what we must do to normalize the country's operations and defend liberal democracy,” Yoon wrote in the letter.
Yoon also defended his declaration of martial law, reiterating his position that brief deployments of armed forces cannot constitute rebellion.
“Declaring martial law is not a crime. Martial law is a means the president can use to overcome the national crisis,” Yoon wrote in the letter.
It comes after his legal representatives released a pre-recorded speech from him immediately after his detention.
Yoon said he was complying with an “illegal and ineffective” investigation to prevent “bloodshed” between police and presidential security and for the safety of people gathering outside the presidential residence.
“The rule of law in this country has completely broken down,” he said. “While I faced these disadvantages, it is my sincere hope that no citizen will have to endure such injustice when dealing with a criminal case in the future.”
South Korea's elected leader was detained by a joint investigative team that deployed more than a thousand investigators and police into the heavily guarded presidential palace. Senior officers from the police's mobile detectives, drug investigation team and anti-corruption investigation team were reportedly sent to execute the arrest warrant, split into two teams to detain Yoon and handle the confrontation with the president's bodyguards.
The operation began at 4:10 a.m. On the way from the main entrance of Yin's official residence to Yin's official residence, the team passed through three roadblocks set up by Yin's security to prevent investigators from entering the presidential palace.
Investigators are widely expected to execute the extended arrest warrant issued by the court on Wednesday, 12 days after the first attempt failed. On January 3, they evacuated the residence on security grounds after facing approximately 200 armed police and military personnel.
Unlike the first attempt, Wednesday's operation went smoothly and most presidential security officials defied leadership orders, according to news reports. Unlike the first attempt, presidential bodyguards did not prevent police from climbing over a roadblock of buses. There were no physical altercations on Wednesday, according to the chief information officer.
The joint team has been pressuring the Presidential Security Service for more than a week, summoning Park Jung-jun, who resigned last week, and others, accusing him of obstructing authorities from executing arrest warrants. According to reports, Yin's extended detention order due to the brief period of martial law is set to expire on January 21.
The police announced on Wednesday that Deputy Minister of Public Security Kim Sung-hoon and Security Section Chief Lee Kwang-woo would be arrested for obstructing the investigation team from executing the arrest warrant after being interviewed by the police on January 3. Detention orders were served on both men on Tuesday night.
After Yoon was detained, Rep. Kwon Young-se, the interim leader of the ruling People's Power Party, said that it was the president's decision to attend the chief information officer's hearing, but the party would hold the agency legally responsible for executing the “illegal arrest warrant.”
Meanwhile, Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, said Yoon Eun-hye's detention is “the first step towards restoring constitutional order, democracy and realizing the rule of law.”
“I feel really relieved to have confirmation that public power and justice still exist in South Korea,” he said.
After Yoon was detained, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a statement that the United States remains committed to cooperating with the Seoul government and appreciates all efforts by the Seoul government and its citizens to “act in accordance with the Constitution.”
Senior Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told a daily news conference that Tokyo was following developments in South Korea “with a special and serious attitude.”
Yoon is the first sitting South Korean president to be detained and investigated by law enforcement authorities. Former President Park Geun-hye was prosecuted after the Constitutional Court passed the impeachment, and former President Lee Myung-bak was questioned and prosecuted after he stepped down.
Park Geun-hye was subpoenaed by prosecutors and special prosecutors in late 2016 and 2017, but she refused all subpoenas. Eleven days after the Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment case, she appeared in court as a civilian and was arrested shortly after. In 2021, she was sentenced to 20 years in prison by the Supreme Court.
Former President Lee Myung-bak went on trial for bribery five years after his term as president ended. He was arrested at his home nine days after being questioned by prosecutors. In 2020, he was sentenced to 17 years in prison.
