First Sitting President Detained in Constitutional History
Claims of "Acts of Governance" Asserted Directly in Court
President Yoon Seok-yeol, accused of leading an insurrection, was arrested 47 days after the '12·3 Emergency Martial Law Incident' occurred. This is the first time in constitutional history that a sitting president has been detained.
On the 19th, Chief Judge Cha Eun-kyung of the Seoul Western District Court conducted a pre-arrest hearing for President Yoon and issued an arrest warrant, stating, "There is a concern that the suspect may destroy evidence."
President Yoon is accused of conspiring with former Minister of National Defense Kim Yong-hyun to incite a riot with the purpose of disrupting the national order by declaring an unconstitutional and illegal emergency martial law on the 3rd of last month.
Although President Yoon appeared in court and argued that the declaration of martial law was inevitable due to what was effectively a national emergency, including successive impeachments of cabinet members, the court judged that the charges of insurrection were substantiated.
The High-ranking Officials' Crime Investigation Office (HOGO) obtained an arrest warrant from the Western District Court after President Yoon failed to comply with three summonses for investigation and arrested him at his Hannam-dong residence on the 15th.
On the day of his arrest, President Yoon was transferred to HOGO and underwent his first interrogation lasting 10 hours and 40 minutes. He only made statements to the effect that "emergency martial law is an act of presidential governance and is not subject to judicial review," without providing any further answers.
President Yoon was detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do, and refused additional summonses. Consequently, HOGO filed for an arrest warrant on the 17th.
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