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Park Chan-kyong

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol was rearrested on Thursday in a major development in efforts to hold him to account for his short-lived martial law declaration last December.
The Seoul Central District Court issued a detention warrant for Yoon, citing concerns he could destroy evidence.
The decision came five hours after a gruelling seven-hour hearing involving arguments from both special prosecutors and Yoon’s legal team, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Yoon, 65, who had been held at the Seoul Detention Centre pending the court’s decision, was immediately processed following the ruling.
He was ordered to change into a drab green prison uniform, had his fingerprints and mugshot taken, and was led to a solitary 10-square-metre cell.
South Korean prison cells lack air conditioning, and the country is currently experiencing record-breaking summer heat.
Former inmates have described enduring the sweltering conditions during summer as one of the harshest aspects of incarceration in South Korea.

“His arrest would signal that the special prosecutor’s efforts to hold those responsible for the insurrection accountable are gaining real traction,” said Professor Jhee Byong-kuen, a political scientist at Chosun University.
Amid accusations that state prosecutors have been reluctant to pursue charges against their former boss, a special counsel was appointed last month to investigate Yoon’s December 3 martial law decree.
Once prosecutor general, Yoon spent most of his adult life within the prosecution service, cultivating an extensive network of allies across the legal establishment.
He was first arrested on January 15, after investigators’ earlier initial attempt to enter his heavily guarded residence was thwarted by armed presidential security agents.
Yoon spent 52 days in detention before his release on March 8, after a panel of judges at the Seoul Central District Court ruled that his confinement could not continue due to legal technicalities – a decision that provoked widespread public outcry.
Critics argued that the ruling emboldened Yoon’s co-defendants, including former military generals now facing trial for their role in the martial law plot. With Yoon freed, other suspects reportedly hesitated to cooperate with investigators.
“With Yoon back behind bars, his former subordinates and co-conspirators would likely feel safer confessing, knowing he can no longer protect or retaliate against them,” said Lee Jun-han, a professor of politics at Incheon National University.


Now that Yoon has been rearrested, the investigation into his aborted martial law declaration is expected to gain momentum, observers said.
Among the most serious allegations is that Yoon sought to provoke a military response from North Korea by ordering drone incursions into Pyongyang’s airspace last October – allegedly as a pretext to invoke his presidential authority to impose martial law.
Special Prosecutor Park Ji-young said on Wednesday that this specific allegation was not included in the arrest warrant request, as the case remains under active investigation and involves a “large volume” of materials still being reviewed.
Earlier on Wednesday, Yoon arrived at court amid tight security.
Dressed in a dark suit and red tie, he appeared before the Seoul Central District Court for a pre-arrest hearing to decide whether to send him back into custody or allow him to remain out on bail while standing trial.
Police maintained order as small but vocal groups of Yoon’s supporters, waving flags and chanting slogans, gathered on the street corners outside. A convoy of vehicles transported Yoon the short 350-metre (1,150-foot) distance from his home to the courthouse.
The impeached former leader ignored questions from journalists as he entered the courtroom, flanked by his legal team.

Special Prosecutor Cho Eun-suk had formally requested Yoon’s arrest on Sunday, describing the ex-president as a flight risk and citing the possibility of destruction of evidence and witness tampering.
The 66-page arrest warrant outlines five principal charges, among them allegations that Yoon hand-picked certain cabinet ministers to brief on the impending martial law declaration, thereby undermining other cabinet members’ constitutional responsibilities to review state affairs.
Other accusations included the alleged forgery of documents pertaining to the decree, obstruction of law enforcement by ordering his security detail to block his arrest, and instructing aides to destroy encrypted phones used by key figures in the plot.
His legal team dismissed all the charges as “groundless”.
Because Yoon had already been charged with insurrection and released by the court overseeing the martial law case, the special prosecutor could not seek his arrest on the same charge.
In their application, prosecutors accused Yoon of “blatantly disregarding the law”, despite having styled himself as one of its greatest defenders during his tenure as prosecutor general.
“Rather than reflecting on his crimes, he continues to justify the martial law declaration – rejecting the country’s criminal justice system and disrupting its democratic order,” the leaked document said.

Last week, Special Prosecutor Cho’s team widened the investigation, questioning former prime minister Han Duck-soo and several other ex-cabinet ministers over their alleged involvement in the martial law plan.
Han, who lost his bid to become the ousted People Power Party’s presidential candidate in the June 3 election won by opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, is accused of assisting Yoon with legal procedures related to the decree.
The special counsel has also warned that Yoon could defy a future court order and incite violence among his supporters, as witnessed on January 19, when demonstrators stormed and vandalised Seoul Western District Court following his initial arrest.
Separately, a second special counsel is investigating Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, on 16 charges, including two counts of stock manipulation, election interference and multiple bribery allegations.
On Wednesday, President Lee’s ruling Democratic Party accused Kim of involvement in the alleged cover-up of a marine’s death in 2023, which is also under investigation, and has suggested she may be implicated in the insurrection case as well.
“It must be clearly revealed to what extent Kim Keon-hee … was directly or indirectly involved in Yoon’s martial law decree,” the party said in a statement.


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South Korea

South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol back behind bars over martial law decree

A supporter wears a Yoon Suk-yeol mask during a protest near the Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol arrives at court in Seoul on Wednesday for a hearing to review his arrest warrant. Photo: AP

A supporter stands in front of a portrait of Yoon Suk-yeol outside Seoul Central District Court on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

South Korea’s former prime minister Han Duck-soo has been implicated in Yoon’s marital law plot. Photo: Yonhap/dpa

Did South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol order drone missions into Pyongyang to justify martial law?

A photo released by North Korea’s state media on October 19, 2024, shows what is claimed to be a recovered South Korean drone, at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Photo: KCNA via KNS/AFP

Former president Yoon Suk-yeol arrives for questioning over charges related to the December 3 martial law imposition at the special prosecutor’s office in Seoul on June 28. Photo: EPA

A photo released by the North Korean government shows what it says is a South Korean drone found in Pyongyang on October 13, 2024. Photo: KCNA/KNS via AP

South Korea tries a different tack to sway its nuclear-armed neighbour: an olive branch

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks on the phone at the presidential office in Seoul earlier this month. Photo: South Korean Presidential Office / EPA-EFE

A North Korean soldier stands guard in a watchtower next to a giant loudspeaker (right) near the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas on June 12. Photo: AFP

A mourner places a flower on an allied soldier’s grave in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday, during a ceremony to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean war. Photo: Yonhap/EPA-EFE

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a recent meeting of the Workers’ Party of Korea in Pyongyang, North Korea. Kim has labelled South Korea a “hostile state”. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

A visitor uses binoculars to watch the North Korean side of the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas, from South Korea’s Odusan Unification Observatory in Paju on June 12. Photo: AFP

South Korea’s probes of Yoon and wife: search for truth or ‘political revenge’?

Former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, at a polling station in Seoul on Tuesday. Photo: EPA-EFE/Yonhap

Supporters hand flowers to President Lee Jae-myung as he departs for the National Assembly to attend his inauguration ceremony on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

South Korean soldiers check a balloon carrying garbage, presumably sent by North Korea, in Seoul on June 25 last year. Photo: South Korea Joint Chiefs of Staff/ EPA-EFE

Protesters carry an effigy of former president Yoon Suk-yeol last December. Photo: AP

Former residence of South Korea’s Yoon under lawmakers’ scrutiny over ‘pet pool’

Former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife Kim Keon-hee are believed to have used a shallow pool at their former residence in Seoul for their pets. Photo: AFP

Protesters rallying against then-South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol in Seoul last December following his failed martial law attempt. Photo: AP

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After a gruelling seven-hour hearing, a court issued a detention warrant for the ex-president, citing concerns he could destroy evidence


After a gruelling seven-hour hearing, a court issued a detention warrant for the ex-president, citing concerns he could destroy evidence.


Seoul

Yoon Suk-yeol

Lee Jae-myung