South Korean law enforcement officials on Monday (December 30, 2024) requested a court warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the power grab that lasted only a few hours, confirmed it requested the warrant from the Seoul Western District Court. They plan to question Mr. Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion.

The warrant request came after Mr. Yoon dodged several requests by the joint investigation team and public prosecutors to appear for questioning and also blocked searches of his offices.

While Mr. Yoon has the presidential privilege of immunity from criminal prosecution, such protections don’t extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.

It’s not clear whether the court will grant the warrant or whether Mr. Yoon can be compelled to appear for questioning.

Under the country’s laws, locations potentially linked to military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge, and it’s unlikely that Mr. Yoon will voluntarily leave his residence if he faces detention. There are also concerns about possible clashes with Mr. Yoon’s presidential security service if authorities attempt to forcibly detain him.

Mr. Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over his imposition of martial law, which lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil, halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets.

Mr. Yoon’s fate now lies with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Mr. Yoon from office or reinstate him.

The National Assembly voted last week to also impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had assumed the role of acting president after Mr. Yoon’s powers were suspended, over his reluctance to fill three Constitutional Court vacancies ahead of the court’s review of Mr. Yoon’s case. The country’s new interim leader is Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who is also finance minister.

To formally end Mr. Yoon’s presidency, at least six justices on the nine-member Constitutional Court must vote in favor. Three seats are currently vacant following retirements and a full bench could make conviction more likely.

Choi, who has been handling the government’s response to a plane crash on Sunday (December 29, 2024) that killed 179 people, has yet to say whether he intends to appoint the Constitutional Court justices.

In a separate criminal investigation of Mr. Yoon, authorities have already arrested his defence minister, police chief and several other military commanders involved in the attempt to enforce the martial law decree, which harkened back to the days of authoritarian leaders the country hasn’t seen since the 1980s.

Mr. Yoon and his military leadership have been accused of attempting to block the National Assembly from voting to end martial law by sending hundreds of heavily armed troops to encircle the building. Lawmakers who managed to get in voted unanimously 190-0 to lift martial law, hours after Yoon declared it in a late-night television address.

Mr. Yoon has also been accused of ordering defence counterintelligence officials to detain key politicians, including opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik and the ex-leader of his own conservative party, Han Dong-hun, a reformist who supported investigations into corruption allegations against first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Mr. Yoon has defended the martial law decree as a necessary act of governance, portraying it as a temporary warning against the liberal opposition Democratic Party, which he has described as an “anti-state” force obstructing his agenda with its majority in the National Assembly. Mr. Yoon has claimed he had no intention to paralyze the functioning of the assembly, saying that the troops were sent to maintain order, and also denied planning to arrest politicians.

Mr. Yoon’s claims have been denied by Kwak Jong-keun, the now-arrested commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, who testified in the National Assembly that Mr. Yoon called for troops to “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside” the assembly’s main chamber where the vote occurred. Kwak said he did not carry out Yoon’s orders.

The joint investigation team has also questioned Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho, commander of the Defense Intelligence Command, who has also been arrested over suspicions that he sent troops to the National Election Commission in Gwacheon city after Mr. Yoon declared martial law.

Mr. Yoon has defended the troop deployment to the election commission, which happened at the same time as the military operation at the National Assembly, saying it was necessary to investigate supposed vulnerabilities in the commission’s computer systems potentially affecting the credibility of election results.

Mr. Yoon’s failure to offer any evidence in support of his claims has raised concerns that he was endorsing conspiracy theories on right-wing YouTube channels that April’s parliamentary elections were rigged. The Democratic Party won those elections by a landslide. The election commission rejected Mr. Yoon’s allegations, stating there was no basis to suspect election fraud.

Protesters march during a rally against South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law, which was reversed hours later, in Seoul, South Korea, December 28, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea’s suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol authorised the military to fire their weapons if needed to enter parliament during his failed bid to impose martial law, according to a prosecutors’ report seen by AFP on Saturday (December 28, 2024).

The 10-page summary from former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun’s prosecution indictment report, which was provided to the media, also says Mr. Yoon vowed on December 3 to declare martial law three times if necessary.

Mr. Yoon, who was stripped of his duties by the National Assembly this month, is under investigation for his short-lived attempt to scrap civilian rule, which plunged the country into political turmoil and led to his impeachment.

Mr. Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kab-keun dismissed the prosecutors’ report, telling AFP it was “a one-sided account that neither corresponds to objective circumstances nor common sense”.

As lawmakers rushed to parliament on December 3 to vote down Mr. Yoon’s martial law declaration, heavily armed troops stormed the building, scaling fences, smashing windows and landing by helicopter.

According to the prosecution indictment report, Mr. Yoon told the chief of the capital defence command, Lee Jin-woo, that military forces could shoot if necessary to enter the National Assembly.

“Have you still not got in? What are you doing? Break down the door and drag them out, even if it means shooting,” Mr. Yoon told Mr. Lee, according to the report.

Mr. Yoon also allegedly told the head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, General Kwak Jong-keun, to “quickly get inside” the National Assembly since the quorum for the martial law declaration to be lifted had not been met.

“So quickly get inside the National Assembly and bring out the people inside the chamber, and break down the doors with an axe if necessary and drag everyone out,” the report quotes Mr. Yoon as saying at the time.

After lawmakers rushed inside parliament and voted 190-0 to nullify Mr. Yoon’s declaration in the early hours of December 4, the report says Mr. Yoon told Mr. Lee, “Even if it’s lifted, I can declare martial law a second or third time, so just keep going.”

‘Ugly truth’

The report also included screenshots of senior defence officials’ messages from the day of the martial law declaration.

It said there was evidence that Mr. Yoon had been discussing declaring martial law with senior military officials as early as March.

The declaration followed a budget tussle between Mr. Yoon’s party and the opposition.

Days later, Mr. Yoon in a speech apologised for the “anxiety and inconvenience” and promised there would not be a second declaration of martial law.

Ex-Defence Minister Kim was arrested over his role in the failed martial law bid.

Opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Kang Sun-woo said in a statement on Saturday that “the prosecution has laid bare the undeniable ugly truth about Yoon Suk Yeol, the treasonous ringleader”, adding that he must be “arrested immediately”.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court held its first preliminary hearing on the validity of Mr. Yoon’s impeachment on Friday.

The court will also decide the fate of Mr. Yoon’s replacement, Han Duck-soo, who was impeached Friday over his refusal to complete Mr. Yoon’s impeachment process and bring him to justice.

Tens of thousands of Mr. Yoon supporters and opponents held rival mass rallies in central Seoul on Saturday.

“The martial law was legal, and president Yoon did it because of the insurrectionary opposition Democratic Party,” said 31-year-old Danny Ko, holding the slogan “Legal martial law, Invalid impeachment!”

“The Democratic Party will impeach [acting president] Choi Sang-mok like Han, and the country will go mad.”

An anti-Yoon crowd was gathered nearby holding signs such as: “A new leader for the new year” and “Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol”, with many singing along to K-pop songs and John Lennon’s “Imagine”.

“I felt so relieved when Han was impeached, he was also part of the insurrection” Kwak Min-jeong, 25, told AFP.

Holding a glow stick, Kwak said she would keep protesting until “democracy was achieved”.

“We are holding it to show our commitment, and unlike a candle, it will never go off,” she said.