Jamaine Punzalan

A man watches South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol speak during a news broadcast on a television at a train station in Seoul on December 3, 2024, after he declared emergency martial law, saying the step was necessary to protect the country from "communist forces" amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill.y Anthony WALLACE / AFP)

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:511px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/175211602379120241203171216_5a610937c4c13d8536e8c2af07427bcabf8fd5636602c8bffdc1649993e0aa73.jpg" style="width:511px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">A man watches South Korea&#x27;s President Yoon Suk Yeol speak during a news broadcast on a television at a train station in Seoul on December 3, 2024, after he declared emergency martial law, saying the step was necessary to protect the country from &quot;communist forces&quot; amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill. Anthony Wallace, AFP</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>South Korea&#x27;s disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was detained for a second time Thursday over his declaration of martial law and held in a solitary cell pending investigations into accusations of insurrection.</p><p>Yoon had plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule on December 3, sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers voting down his <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/12/3/disbelief-outrage-at-south-korea-s-short-lived-martial-law-0730">declaration of martial law.</a></p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2024/12/7/watch-south-korea-president-yoon-apologizes-for-martial-law-declaration-1528">WATCH: South Korea President Yoon apologizes for martial law declaration</a></div><p>He became <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/1/26/south-korean-president-indicted-as-ringleader-of-an-insurrection-1938">South Korea&#x27;s first sitting president to be taken into custody</a> when he was detained in a dawn raid in January, after he spent weeks resisting arrest, using his presidential security detail to head off investigators.</p><p>But he was released on procedural grounds in March, even as his trial on insurrection charges continued.</p><p>After <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/4/4/south-korea-court-upholds-president-yoon-s-impeachment-strips-him-of-office-1044">Yoon&#x27;s impeachment was confirmed by the court </a>in April, he again refused multiple summons from investigators, prompting them to seek his detention once more to ensure cooperation.</p><p>The latest arrest warrant was issued over concerns that Yoon would &quot;destroy evidence&quot; in the case, Nam Se-jin, a senior judge at Seoul&#x27;s Central District Court said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>SOLITARY</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The former president, 64, attended a hearing on Wednesday that lasted about seven hours, during which he rejected all charges, before being taken to a detention center near Seoul where he awaited the court&#x27;s decision on whether to detain him again.</p><p>During his warrant hearing, the former president said he is now &quot;fighting alone&quot;, local media reported.</p><p>&quot;The special counsel is now going after even my defense lawyers,&quot; said Yoon during his hearing.</p><p>&quot;One by one my lawyers are stepping away, and I may soon have to fight this alone.&quot;</p><p>Once the warrant was issued early Thursday, Yoon was placed in a solitary cell at the facility, where he can be held for up to 20 days as prosecutors prepare to formally indict him including on additional charges.</p><p>&quot;Once Yoon is indicted, he could remain detained for up to six months following indictment,&quot; Yun Bok-nam, president of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, told AFP.</p><p>&quot;Theoretically, immediate release is possible, but in this case, the special counsel has argued that the risk of evidence destruction remains high, and that the charges are already substantially supported.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>LONG TIME IN DETENTION</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>During the hearing, Yoon&#x27;s legal team criticized the detention request as unreasonable, stressing that Yoon has been ousted and &quot;no longer holds any authority&quot;.</p><p>Earlier this month, the special counsel questioned Yoon about his resistance during a failed arrest attempt in January, as well as accusations that he authorized drone flights to Pyongyang to help justify declaring martial law.</p><p>The former president also faces charges of falsifying official documents related to the martial law bid.</p><p>Yoon has defended his martial law decision as necessary to &quot;root out&quot; pro–North Korean and &quot;anti-state&quot; forces.</p><p>But the Constitutional Court, when ousting Yoon from office on April 4 in a unanimous decision, said his acts were a &quot;betrayal of people&#x27;s trust&quot; and &quot;denial of the principles of democracy&quot;.</p><p>South Korea&#x27;s current president, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/29/lee-jae-myung-s-rise-from-poverty-to-brink-of-south-korean-presidency-1227">Lee Jae Myung</a>, who <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/6/3/south-korea-votes-for-new-president-after-martial-law-turmoil-0829">won the June snap election, </a>approved legislation launching sweeping special investigations into Yoon&#x27;s push for martial law and various criminal accusations tied to his administration and wife.</p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>South Korea's disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was detained for a second time Thursday over his declaration of martial law and held in a solitary cell pending investigations into accusations of insurrection.</p>

South Korea's disgraced ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol was detained for a second time Thursday over his declaration of martial law and held in a solitary cell pending investigations into accusations of insurrection.

South Korea's disgraced ex-president Yoon detained, again, over martial law

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South Korea's disgraced ex-president Yoon detained, again, over martial law

Agence France-Presse

Published Jul 10, 2025 10:58 AM PHT

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