Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing charges of rebellion after he briefly imposed martial law in December. Supporters of the embattled politician broke into a Seoul court and broke windows and equipment.PoliticsSouth Korea
Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing charges of rebellion after he briefly imposed martial law in December. Supporters of the embattled politician broke into a Seoul court and broke windows and equipment.
A Seoul court has heeded a police request to extend the detention of impeached president Yoon Suk YeolImage: Jung Yeon-je/AP/picture alliance
A South Korean court on Sunday ruled to extend the arrest of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The embattled politician faces the possibility of imprisonment on potential rebellion charges after he briefly declared martial law on December 3.
South Korea’s parliament voted to impeach Yoon on December 14.
On Sunday, the Seoul Western District Court granted a police request for a formal arrest warrant for Yoon.
The court said it decided to extend Yoon’s detention due to concerns he could destroy evidence if released.
The decision means that investigators can keep Yoon in pre-trial detention for up to 20 days starting from Wednesday, when he was detained and remanded in custody.
The announcement was followed by a protest by Yoon supporters, who broke into the court and broke windows and equipment. Almost 90 people were arrested in the incident.
Acting police chief Lee Ho-young said the storming of the court by protesters posed a grave challenge to the rule of law.
He said police would investigate threats against the judge who issued the warrant to extend Yoon’s detention.
South Korea’s corruption investigation office said it had called Yoon for questioning at 2 p.m. local time (0500 UTC).
