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ReutersSouth Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol has become the country’s first president to be arrested, ending a weeks-long standoff between investigators and his security.
Yoon, whose failure to impose martial law has plunged the country into chaos and seen him impeached by parliament, is being investigated for treason.
However, technically he is still the president as the Constitutional Court has to decide if his removal is justified.
Investigators used ladders and wire cutters in the freezing cold to reach Yoon, whose members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) had barricaded him in an attempt to prevent his arrest.
The 64-year-old leader said he had agreed to appear before the corruption investigation office (CIO). to prevent bleeding.
In the three-minute video message, Yoon said he will follow the research even if he disagrees with it.
He has been saying that the arrest warrant was not legally valid.
Yoon said he saw how the authorities “took over” the security area of his home with fire extinguishers.
“I decided to appear before the CIO, even though it is an illegal investigation, to prevent unnecessary bloodshed,” he said.
Horrible things happened in the early hours of the morning when the construction team was going through the bars. Groups of Yoon’s supporters chanted “stop the opposition” while another group of protesters chanted “arrest”.
More than 1,000 police officers were involved in Wednesday’s operation, which was the second attempt to arrest him.
The CIO investigating Yoon, in the past tried to arrest him on January 3 but they were blocked by busses and barbed wire.
They received the warrant after ignoring several subpoenas for questioning.
On Wednesday, they came with tools to overcome the obstacles, climb the trucks and ladders and cut through the barbed wire fences.
Some were able to enter the presidential palace through a nearby passageway, local media reported.
Yoon’s People Power Party said his arrest was “illegal”, with deputy leader Kweon Seong-dong describing Wednesday’s incident as “sad”.
On the other hand, the leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Park Chan-dae, said that Yoon’s arrest shows that “justice in South Korea exists”.
These arrests “are the first step to restore the rule of law, democracy and the rule of law,” he said at a party conference.
The country is led by Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok as President. He was pushed into office after the first president, Han Duck-soo, was also criticized and opposition parliament.
Yoon is expected to be detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, about 5km (3 mi) from the CIO office.
If the court does not issue a detention order within 48 hours of Yoon’s arrest, he will be released, and has the right to return to the presidential palace.
Yoon was questioned by investigators but asked to remain silent.
Although the arrest of the former president is a surprise in South Korean politics, the country’s political problems are not over. It is just another stage in the ongoing political drama.
The crowd outside Yoon’s home Wednesday morning underscored the country’s deep divisions.
The anti-Yoon crowd cheered, clapped and sang “good and festive” at the announcement of his arrest.
The atmosphere is very different on the other hand.
“We are very disappointed and angry – the law has been broken,” follower Yoon told the BBC.
The conflict pitted two branches of power against each other: law enforcement, which has the legal authority to arrest the president, and the presidential security service, which said it was responsible for protecting the suspended president.
Even before his defense announcement, Yoon was demoted to a disabled leader as the opposition party gained a majority in parliament.
He has also faced controversies related to his wife receiving a Dior bag as a gift.
