By Hyunsu Yim and Ju-min Park

SEOUL – Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested and questioned for hours by investigators on Wednesday (15) in relation to a criminal insurrection probe, ending a weeks-long standoff with authorities.

His arrest, the first ever for a sitting president in South Korea, is the latest head-spinning development in one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies, even though the country has a history of prosecuting and imprisoning former leaders.

Since lawmakers voted to impeach and strip him of his duties after his short-lived Dec. 3 declaration of martial law, Yoon has been holed up at his hillside residence, guarded by a small army of presidential security staff who blocked a previous arrest attempt earlier this month.

On Wednesday he turned himself in for questioning at the corruption investigation offices after more than 3,000 police officers seeking to arrest him marched on his residence before dawn.

“I decided to respond to the CIO’s investigation – despite it being an illegal investigation – to prevent unsavoury bloodshed,” Yoon said in a statement, referring to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) that is heading the criminal inquiry.

A prosecutor accompanied Yoon in his car from his home in the upscale district known as Seoul’s Beverly Hills to the austere CIO offices, where he slipped in through a back entrance, avoiding the media.

As Yoon was being interrogated, an unidentified man in his 60s set himself on fire nearby, fire services said. The man was severely burned and was unconscious.

Authorities have 48 hours to question Yoon, after which they must seek a warrant to detain him for up to 20 days or release him.

However, Yoon is refusing to talk and has not agreed to have interviews with investigators recorded on video, a CIO official said. The CIO said it had no information on why Yoon was refusing to talk.

The presidential motorcade was seen leaving the CIO offices late on Wednesday evening, with Yoon expected to be held at Seoul Detention Centre, where other high-profile figures including former President Park Geun-hye and Samsung Electronics Chairman Jay Y. Lee have also spent time.

Yoon’s lawyers have said the arrest warrant is illegal because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team set up to investigate him had no legal mandate to do so. A warrant to search Yoon at his residence, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, referred to him as the “ringleader of insurrection”.

Serious Interest

Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law shocked South Koreans and rattled Asia’s fourth-largest economy, and it has ushered in an unprecedented period of political turmoil in one of the United States’ key security partners in the region. Lawmakers voted to impeach Yoon on Dec. 14.

Separate to the criminal investigation, the Constitutional Court is deliberating whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment by parliament and permanently remove him from office or restore his presidential powers.

The US remains committed to working with Seoul and appreciates its efforts “to act in accordance with the Constitution”, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said in a statement.

The top government spokesperson in neighbouring Japan told a daily news briefing that Tokyo was following developments in South Korea “with particular and serious interest”.

Wednesday’s arrest attempt had hundreds of thousands of people glued to TV live feeds showing busloads of police arriving near the presidential residence, pushing past Yoon supporters and then walking towards the gates of the compound carrying ladders and wire cutters.

As local broadcasters reported that Yoon’s detention was imminent, some minor scuffles broke out between pro-Yoon protesters and police near the residence.

Throngs of protesters, who also gathered outside the CIO offices, waved South Korean and American flags and held posters bearing ‘Stop the Steal’ slogans referring to Yoon’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud – one of the reasons he gave to justify his martial law declaration.

Called Foolish

In a hand-written letter posted to his Facebook page, Yoon said he was often called foolish because he did not compromise.

He said there was too much evidence of election fraud for it to be dismissed as a conspiracy theory, even while acknowledging “there is insufficient evidence to punish a specific person for it”.

The National Election Commission – one target of the troops deployed by Yoon after he declared martial law – has denied allegations of fraud, saying the election system is transparent and above board with plenty of oversight.

Some of Yoon’s supporters have drawn parallels between his plight and that of US President-elect Donald Trump, who claimed voter fraud contributed to his election defeat in 2020.

“It is very sad to see our country falling apart,” said Kim Woo-sub, a 70-year-old retiree protesting against Yoon’s arrest outside his residence on Wednesday.

“I still have high expectations for Trump to support our president. Election fraud is something they have in common but also the U.S. needs South Korea to fight China,” he said.

Despite polls showing a majority of South Koreans disapprove of Yoon’s martial law declaration and support his impeachment, the political standoff has energised his supporters and his People Power Party (PPP) has seen a revival in recent weeks.

Support for the PPP stood at 40.8% in the latest Realmeter poll released on Monday, while the main opposition Democratic Party stood at 42.2%, narrowing from a gap of 10.8% last week.

-Reuters