South Korean court approves arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol : NPR
Former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol, Centerm arrives in court to attend a hearing to examine his arrest warrant requested by special prosecutors in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.
Kim Hong-ji / AP / Pool Reuters
hide
tilting legend
Kim Hong-ji / AP / Pool Reuters
SEOUL, South Korea – A South Korean court approved the new arrest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday early on Thursday for his brief taxation of martial law in December, accepting the demand of a special prosecutor that he presents a risk of destroying evidence.
The arrest warrant issued by the Central District Court of Seoul referred Yoon to a detention center near the capital, four months after its release in March, when the same court canceled its January arrest and allowed it to undergo its trial for rebellion without being held.
His criminal affair is processed by a team of investigators under the Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-Suk who pursue additional accusations on the authoritarian thrust of Yoon, in particular obstructing official tasks, the abuse of power and the falsification of official documents.
The Cho team interviewed it twice before submitting a request for their arrest warrant in court on Sunday.
Yoon’s lawyers had described the request for arrest as excessive and baseless. They did not immediately react to the Court’s decision to approve the arrest of Yoon, which was officially removed from its functions in April after the Constitutional Court confirmed its dismissal.
Yoon did not answer questions from journalists after arriving in court on Wednesday afternoon for a hearing to examine the request of the special prosecutor. After the hearing of about seven o’clock, Yoon was taken to the detention center to wait for the court’s decision.
Yoon’s new arrest could mark the start of an extended period in detention, potentially sustainable or more months. Yoon can be initially detained in the center for 20 days, while the special prosecutor will aim to indicate additional charges.
A demonstrator wears a mask by former South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol during a gathering in support of a hearing to examine the request of a special prosecutor for his arrest, near the central district court of Seoul in Seoul, in South Korea, Wednesday July 9, 2025. The writing “Yoon Suk Yeol” sentenced to death “.
Ahn Young-Joon / AP
hide
tilting legend
Ahn Young-Joon / AP
If Yoon is charged with new accusations, this could keep it in arrest up to six months up to a first court decision. If this court condemns him and issues a prison sentence, Yoon would serve this sentence because the case was heading for higher courts.
Park Ji-Young, a principal investigator of the Cho team, said they planned to question Yoon on Friday. Yoon was absent by a hearing on Thursday at the Court of Seoul for his previous accusation act for rebellion, and his lawyers offered no immediate explanation to his absence.
The former conservative chief described his imposition of martial law on December 3 as a necessary step to cancel his “anti-state” liberal opponents, accusing them of using their legislative majority to hinder his program. But Yoon’s decree only lasted hours, after a quorum of legislators crossed a blockade of soldiers strongly armed in the National Assembly and voted to raise the measure.
Yoon was dismissed by legislators on December 14 and charged on January 26 by prosecutors who accused him of managing an attempted rebellion, describing his takeover as an illegal attempt to grasp the legislative and election assembly and to have political opponents.
The accusations are liable to the death penalty or the perpetuity imprisonment.
Yoon also faces accusations of enforcing martial law without following the required legal procedure, such as deliberation by an official meeting of the cabinet, and illegally deploying the presidential security forces as a private army to block a first attempt at the application of the law to hold it at his residence in early January.
His liberal rival and the current president Lee Jae Myung, who won the June Snap elections to replace him last month, approved legislation to launch radical special surveys on the debacle of the Martial Law of Yoon and other criminal allegations involving his wife and his administration.
