South Korea’s impeached president detained after hourslong siege drama

SEOUL, South Korea — Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is in the hands of police and investigators after a tense overnight resistance at his presidential residence collapsed around daybreak Wednesday.

His detention marks a historic first in South Korea’s political history: No sitting president has previously suffered that fate.

Mr. Yoon had been protected by his presidential security detail, and a “human chain” of lawmakers from his conservative People Power Party earlier Wednesday, before police managed to breach his compound using ladders.

Witnesses described how a convoy of black government SUVs was seen leaving the presidential compound with police escorts. Mr. Yoon arrived at the agency’s office for questioning in the nearby city of Gwacheon — but not before releasing a defiant video to supporters urging them to keep up the fight.

“The rule of law has completely collapsed in this country,” Mr. Yoon said in his appeal.

After he was questioned for more than 10 hours, a vehicle carrying Mr. Yoon arrived at a detention center in Uiwang, near Seoul, escorted by police and presidential security vehicles, The Associated Press reported. Investigators said the president declined to make a statement in any of the interrogation sessions.

The drama took place at the hillside presidential compound in the upscale Seoul district of Hannam Dong. Downhill, thousands of demonstrators — largely Mr. Yoon’s supporters — braved bitter temperatures to rally behind police barricades in an ambiance that fluctuated from furious to carnival.

Mr. Yoon, who was impeached last month and faces a trial over whether he will be permanently removed from office, fortified himself inside his presidential compound as the battle of wills played out just beyond his front door.

Just the day before, he failed to appear for his first hearing at Seoul’s Constitutional Court, escalating a national crisis as other agencies plan to forcibly make him face charges of insurrection for his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law last month.

Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and police officers began a massive operation to detain the president at approximately 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. According to reports, some 1,000 Seoul police officers were deployed, but their numbers on the ground appeared greater: Double lines of police buses supporting the operation stretched for nearly a mile.

The Presidential Security Service had barricaded the executive mansion with vehicles and razor wire. It is unknown how many PSS members, who were reinforced by some lawmakers from the conservative PPP and the president’s legal team, were on duty.

The PSS issued a statement Tuesday saying it would respond to an “illegal warrant execution,” as the presidential residence is a “national security facility.”

PPP lawmakers provided another barrier. A mass of conservative demonstrators — perhaps 10,000 — presented a wider cordon.

Older persons were in the majority, but many were youthful. South Korean and U.S. flags — as well as “Stop the Steal” signs — were brandished. Entrepreneurs supplied coffee and meat skewers, while speeches were delivered on giant LED screens and music — including “YMCA” — blared.

“We have been here for 24 hours, for three weeks,” said Lee Kang-san, an official with a group of Yoon supporters.

“This is the awakening of the Korean people. … This could be a big fight,” said Ricky Min, 51, a golf coach. “If they get [Mr. Yoon], we are not going to sit down.”

A smaller group of protesters — barricaded away from the main demonstration by police — criticized the embattled president.

“He’s a murderer of democracy, a criminal, he’s like a royalist!” said Yi Jae-woo, a 36-year-old translator. “I want justice!”

Mr. Yoon has been caught in a tightening vice following the shock declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, which led to his impeachment after legislators moved quickly to overturn the declaration.

An attempt by the CIO and police to arrest him last week failed in the face of spirited resistance from the president’s security detail.

Though the CIO lost face, it has since made clear, in public statements and comments to the National Assembly, that it was determined to seize the former president. It has also received a court extension of its warrant and appears to have considerable public support.

Impeached and besieged

The first hearing of the Constitutional Court, which will decide if Mr. Yoon would be permanently removed from office, took just four minutes on Tuesday. Mr. Yoon refused to appear.

The next hearing, on Thursday, will be conducted in absentia, the court’s president said Tuesday. A precedent for that exists: The last presidential impeachment trial, that of conservative President Park Geun-hye in 2016, took place without her presence.

The anti-corruption agency now has 48 hours to request a court order for his formal arrest. If it fails to do so, the former president could be released. If he is formally arrested, investigators can extend his detention to 20 days before transferring the case to public prosecutors for indictment, the AP reported.

Mr. Yoon, on the other hand, faces an unprecedented situation. Not only is his case being ruled upon by the Constitutional Court, a range of legal and investigative bodies led by the CIO want to detain him for questioning, notably on charges of insurrection. According to South Korea’s constitution, no president can claim immunity for that charge.

Now that Mr. Yoon is in the CIO’s hands for questioning, he could face a lengthy detention. That raises questions over whether he will be able to defend himself in front of the Constitutional Court.

On Monday, his legal team said the CIO was trying to shame Mr. Yoon and requested the deferment of the CIO detention to grant the Constitutional Court proceedings primacy.

The National Assembly has advised the Constitutional Court to drop the charge of insurrection against Mr. Yoon in its proceedings. The court has responded that it will reach its own decision on the matter.

A top aide to Mr. Yoon issued a futile plea to law enforcement agencies on Tuesday to abandon their efforts to detain him, the AP reported. Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said there might be a way for the president to testify at a “third site” and accused security forces of treating Mr. Yoon as if he were a member of a “South American drug cartel.”

Mr. Yoon at the time called his martial law declaration a move against “anti-state forces” and his followers allege long-term election fraud.

But opponents say the election fraud allegations have been disproved, and accuse him of authoritarian instincts and drunkenness.