South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is being questioned over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators have said, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
His detention makes him the first sitting president in the country’s history to be arrested.
Officials from the corruption investigation office (CIO) said Yoon refused to talk during two and a half hours of questioning and refused to be filmed. Officials did not give further details as to why he remained silent.
Yoon can be held for questioning for up to 48 hours on the existing arrest warrant. Authorities must then decide whether to release him or seek a fresh warrant to detain him for up to 20 days.
Yoon’s supporters and those who oppose him have been protesting in the capital for days. While the president was being interrogated on Wednesday, an unidentified person set themselves on fire nearby, the national fire agency said. It added the man, in his 60s, was severely burned and unconscious after the incident.
The CIO is an independent agency launched in 2021 to investigate high-ranking officials, including presidents and their family members. But it does not have the authority to prosecute the president and must refer cases to the prosecutors’ office for further action.
Yoon said in a video message released before his arrest that he had agreed to cooperate with anti-corruption authorities to “avoid unsavoury bloodshed” in the latest chapter of a saga that has rocked South Korean politics and triggered concern among its international allies. Yoon claimed the rule of law had “completely collapsed” after his detention and described the investigation as “illegal”.
A convoy of vehicles, one of which was presumably carrying Yoon, was seen leaving the presidential residence and later arrived at the offices of the anti-corruption agency. Yoon was later seen entering the offices.
When he is not being questioned he is expected to be held at Seoul detention centre, where other high-profile figures, including the former president Park Geun-hye, and the former Samsung Electronics chair Jay Y Lee have also been detained. Media reports said Yoon might be unable to move to the centre if he was questioned overnight.
Despite its name, the centre is in the city of Uiwang, 14 miles (22km) south of Seoul. If Yoon stays there he will probably be kept in a solitary cell bigger and better appointed than the standard 6.56 sq metre single cells. But in other ways he will be treated like any other detainee, rising at 6.30am, with lights out at 9pm.
The operation to detain Yoon began in the early hours of Wednesday, with investigators sealing off streets around the compound with police buses and thousands of officers deployed.
An unarmed team of investigators from the CIO and police officers tried to enter the residential compound but were blocked by unidentified personnel at the entrance gate, according to witness accounts.
TV footage showed about 20 personnel believed to be investigators then climbing ladders into Yoon’s residential compound. Images showed scores of officers with “police” and “CIO” marked on their backs inside the compound.
Investigators also attempted to enter the residence via an alternative mountain hiking trail, according to Yonhap News TV.
Investigators were involved in clashes with those defending the residence. Video footage showed investigating officers from the CIO trying to push through a crowd of Yoon’s supporters gathered outside his hillside villa in Seoul.
The investigating officials said they would detain anyone who tried to block their execution of a new warrant, Yonhap news agency reported. Police denied reports that they had arrested the acting head of the presidential guard.
At least one person was injured during the standoff. They were transported from the scene by fire authorities.
Investigators were seeking to execute a warrant for Yoon’s arrest over allegations that his declaration of martial law amounted to insurrection – a crime that can come with life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Yoon has been holed up inside his Hannam-dong residence, protected by an armed security detail, since his impeachment in mid-December.
Earlier, there were fears that the latest attempt to arrest Yoon could end in a repeat of a tense standoff earlier this month, when investigators were blocked from detaining the suspended president by the presidential security service.
The acting president, Choi Sang-mok, said in a statement early on Wednesday as the operation unfolded: “This situation is a crucial moment for maintaining order and the rule of law in South Korea.”
Crowds of Yoon supporters, most of them elderly, gathered near the residence gates and around makeshift stages hosting speeches describing the arrest warrant “fake” and calling for the arrest of the opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.
Braving the freezing early morning, many held up red light sticks, US flags and banners in both Korean and English, including “Stop the steal” and “CCP out”, embracing unfounded claims of electoral manipulation and alleged Chinese interference – despite the fact that no major election observers or courts have raised concerns about last April’s parliamentary vote in which the opposition secured a decisive victory.
Nearby, a smaller group of pro-impeachment protesters, kept apart from Yoon’s supporters by a police cordon, was chanting: “Enter! Enter! Arrest him!”
Activists on both sides had set up tea stations and were distributing heat packs.
Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades after he sent soldiers to storm parliament, shaking the vibrant east Asian democracy and briefly sending it back to the dark days of military rule.
