A South Korean court issued an arrest and search warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday, briefly imposing martial law, ABC News has confirmed.
A joint investigation team announced on Monday that it had sought a warrant to charge him with sedition and abuse of power after Yoon ignored three calls to appear for questioning.
Under the South Korean Constitution, if a sitting president is accused of rebellion, the police have the power to arrest him while he is still in office.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol addresses the nation at the Presidential Office in Seoul, South Korea on December 12, 2024.
Korean Presidential Office via Reuters
The court’s decision to grant the order is a first for a president in the country’s history.
Immediately after the request, Yoon’s lawyers asked the court to refuse, saying the headquarters “does not have the authority to investigate a riot” and declaring martial law was unconstitutional.
Yoon declared martial law in a televised speech on December 3. The president said the measure was necessary because of the actions of the country’s liberal opposition, the Democratic Party, which has been accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and stalling the government.
The move sparked protests, and after the declaration, the National Assembly voted to ask the president to lift the martial law order. A majority of parliament — all 190 members present, out of the 300-person body — voted to suspend the decree, which was then required by South Korea’s constitution.
After the National Assembly’s vote, Yoon said he had withdrawn troops deployed to enforce martial law and “will lift martial law as soon as there is a quorum in the cabinet.” The Council of State then met to vote to officially remove it.
The country’s Democratic Party called on Yoon to resign after the “fundamentally invalid” martial law. Without Yoon resigning, the opposition party worked to launch impeachment proceedings against the president.
Yoon has been suspended from office since December 14, when the National Assembly voted 204-85 to impeach him.
Earlier this month, however, Yoon vowed to “fight to the last moment” and said he never intended to break the “constitutional order” when he ordered hundreds of troops into the National Assembly on December 3.
There has been a reaction from the public complex and variedReflecting South Korea’s deep political, social and generational divisions. But there is a general consensus that placing the country under martial law was an inexcusable act, which the president instigated to do so.
“It was an unthinkable and unimaginable situation,” Seo Jungkun, a professor at Seoul’s Kyunghee University, told ABC News earlier. “President Yoon tried to disrupt the functions of the National Assembly. He ordered the removal of the lawmakers, so he can be accused of treason,” explained Seo, citing the testimony of Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-geun, who oversaw the task force. forces were sent to the National Assembly on the night of the declaration of martial law.
ABC News’ Joohee Cho and Hakyung Kate Lee contributed to this report.
