South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was formally placed under arrest on Sunday, sparking a riot among his supporters gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court.
Yoon remained defiant on Monday, refusing to answer questions from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO).
Yoon stunned his nation on the morning of December 3 by declaring a state of “emergency martial law” to combat “unscrupulous, pro-Pyongyang, anti-state forces” among the political opposition. He said these “subversive” elements were paralyzing the nation and trying to bring his government down.
Opposition legislators managed to bypass police barricades to reach the headquarters of the National Assembly and overturn Yoon’s order with a vote, several hours after it was issued. The president was impeached on December 14 and most of his powers were suspended, but he remains nominally in office until the process of removing him can be completed.
The CIO launched a criminal investigation of Yoon, but he refused to cooperate, thwarting both search warrants and orders for his arrest by remaining inside his presidential residence in Seoul. The Presidential Security Service formed human chains to keep CIO investigators out of Yoon’s home, which was deemed a classified and secure location.
Yoon was finally detained in a massive law-enforcement operation at his presidential compound last Wednesday, becoming the first sitting president of South Korea to be taken into police custody. He said he complied with the arrest warrant to prevent a violent confrontation, although he still disputed the authority of the CIO to detain him, lamenting that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country.”
Yoon’s supporters, who insist he is innocent and have appealed to U.S. President Donald Trump to come to his aid, gathered in great numbers outside the courthouse. When Yoon was formally placed under arrest just after midnight on Sunday, his supporters stormed the building, destroyed property, and clashed with police who struggled to hold them back.
“They used plastic chairs, metal beams and police shields that they managed to wrestle away from officers. Some were seen throwing objects and using fire extinguishers, destroying furniture and office machines, smashing glass doors and spraying water on computer servers. They shouted demands to see the judge who had issued the warrant, but she had already left,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Cheon Dae-yeop, chief of the South Korean Supreme Court Administration Office, told an emergency legislative hearing on Monday that he and other judges were “deeply shocked” by the “unprecedented” assault on the courthouse. Sunday marked the first time in 35 years that a crowd has vandalized court property.
“Acts of terror targeting individual judges or judicial proceedings are not only a complete denial of the rule of law but also an affront to all constitutional institutions. This is an extremely grave matter,” he said.
Police reported 90 arrests overnight, with 66 still in custody on Monday, facing charges of trespassing, obstructing officials in the course of their duties, and assaulting police officers.
More Yoon supporters assembled outside the Constitutional Court on Monday, with three of them arrested for causing disturbances. The Constitutional Court is expected to rule soon on removing Yoon from office, which would make him vulnerable to many charges that cannot be brought against a sitting president.
If Yoon is not removed from office, treason and rebellion are among the few charges that could be pressed against him. A treason conviction could bring a harsh prison sentence, while rebellion could mean the death penalty.
Yoon is currently being held in a 129-square-foot cell at Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, a satellite city of Seoul. According to prison officials, he occupies a “standard cell” that could be used for any inmate. The court on Sunday ordered that he can be held for up to 20 more days.
Yoon released a statement on Monday calling for calm.
“I fully understand the public’s anger and frustration, but I urge everyone to express their opinions peacefully. Resorting to physical means can cause significant harm not only to the nation but also to individuals,” he said.
The Korea Herald noted with some astonishment on Monday that some polls show Yoon’s People Power Party (DPP) gaining against the opposition Democratic Party (DP) during the martial law crisis. Gallup Korea’s poll on Friday put PPP in the lead, by 39-36 percent, for the first time in five months.
Polling analysts suggested DPP voters are energized by the crisis and feel some personal sympathy for Yoon, while the DP seems to have bungled its chance to make the case that it can better be trusted with the executive office. The DP may also have gone overboard in criticizing Yoon supporters and calling for enhanced surveillance against them and by rushing to impeach the first acting president, Han Duck-soo, in a fit of impatience.
The Korea Herald reported one potent dynamic in the political showdown is that young South Korean men apparently loathe the DP. Huge numbers of men in their 20s and 30s have turned up at pro-Yoon protests, while the impeached presidents approval ratings with the young male cohort have surged by a good 15 percent over the past few weeks.
“I believe the president when he says that our politics are rigged and is being driven by pro-North, anti-state forces. Moving forward with the impeachment and his arrest is only going to push our country further back from development,” one young male protester told the Korea Herald last week.
