Yoon supporters storm Seoul courthouse after judge extends detention

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Supporters of South Korea’s ousted president stormed a courthouse in Seoul early Sunday after a judge extended the detention of Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of sedition and abuse of power.

More than 40,000 people gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday evening. Yoon Investigators wanted to extend his detention. He was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.

After a judge issued the extension around 3 a.m. local time, dozens of supporters broke through police barricades and entered the building, South Korean police said, smashing windows and doors and exploding fire extinguishers at officers guarding the court’s entrance.

According to local media reports, police reinforcements eventually took back control of the building and arrested around 90 people.

The clash is the latest chapter in a spiraling political crisis stemming from Yun’s decision to send troops into the country’s National Assembly last month as he tried to prevent lawmakers from rejecting attempts to impose military rule in the East Asian nation.

Yun was removed from his post last month after the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion with a two-thirds majority. But he has vowed to “fight to the end”, claiming he is the victim of a conspiracy by left-wing and pro-North Korean forces.

Many of Yun’s hardline supporters have adopted the language of US President Donald Trump’s followers, carrying US flags and holding English-language placards reading “Stop the Steel” – a reference to allegations of fraud in the 2020 US presidential election that preceded the storm. The US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.

While his powers have been handed over to Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president, Yoon remains South Korea’s head of state as the country’s constitutional court debates whether to approve his impeachment or reinstate him.

Yoon was arrested and detained on Wednesday after an hour-long standoff at his hilltop compound between security detail and investigators from South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office.

The president’s legal team has repeatedly argued that the CIO has no standing to investigate allegations of rebellion and that the Seoul Western District Court has no jurisdiction over his case. Both claims were rejected by South Korean judges.

According to the CIO, Yun has refused to cooperate with investigators since his arrest on Wednesday. The extended warrant means he could be held for questioning for another 20 days, during which he could be held in solitary confinement because of his status as head of state.

Yoon’s lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, wrote in a Facebook post Sunday morning that he found the court’s decision “really hard to understand.” But he urged the president’s supporters “not to go too far” because they could be “targeted attacks or counterattacks by left-wing forces.”