Court formally issues arrest warrant for Yoon, first for a sitting Korean president

Police stand guard as supporters of President Yoon Suk Yeol gather to watch a convoy carrying the Korean impeached leader return to the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, after an arrest warrant hearing at the Seoul Western District Court on Jan. 18. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

A Seoul court formally issued an arrest warrant early Sunday for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived imposition of martial law.
 
This marks the first time in Korean constitutional history that a sitting president was formally arrested. It comes 47 days after Yoon's botched declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 last year.  
 
The Seoul Western District Court reached the decision shortly before 3 a.m., citing the possibility of destruction of evidence after holding a five-hour hearing Saturday, attended by Yoon.  
 
At 1:24 p.m., Yoon, transferred in a Justice Ministry vehicle and accompanied by a Presidential Security Service convoy, departed from the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, to the court in western Seoul. Police controlled traffic for Yoon's route to the court.  
 
The court held the hearing from around 2 p.m. to 6:50 p.m. and was an opportunity for Yoon to deny insurrection charges raised against him by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) after his short-lived martial law declaration.    
 

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Cha Eun-kyung, a senior judge at the Seoul Western District Court, presided over the hearing and reviewed if there is any risk of destroying of evidence or flight, among other factors. Yoon's defense team was comprised of eight lawyers, while the CIO was represented by six prosecutors.  
 
The CIO prosecutors spoke first for 110 minutes, said Yoon's lawyers. After a PowerPoint presentation by Yoon's defense team, the president spoke for about 40 minutes. The president gave a five-minute closing remark as the hearing closed, his attorneys said.  
 
The arrest warrant hearing ended at around 6:50 p.m. Yoon later departed the Seoul Western District Court in a Justice Ministry vehicle, flanked by security, at around 7:30 p.m. He arrived at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, at around 8 p.m., where he awaited to hear the court the decision.
 
Yun Gap-geun, Yoon's attorney, told reporters as he left the court that President Yoon "responded truthfully" and that he will now "wait for the court to make a decision."  
 

Supporters of President Yoon Suk Yeol rally as a convoy carrying the Korean impeached leader returns to the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi, after an arrest warrant hearing at the Seoul Western District Court on Jan. 18. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Some 44,000 supporters of Yoon protesting his arrest gathered in front of the court Saturday afternoon, according to police estimates. Similarly, a group of Yoon's supporters were gathered outside of the detention center when his convoy returned from the court Saturday evening.  
 
The Mapo Police Precinct said Saturday that some 40 people were arrested near the Seoul Western District Court for assault, disorderly conduct or trespassing attempts. Seven people were accused of assaulting police, while 22 people tried to climb walls and gates to get into Seoul Western District Court. Another 10 people are accused of attacking a CIO vehicle.  
 
Yoon has been in custody at the Seoul Detention Center after the CIO and police executed a warrant to detain him at 10:33 a.m. Wednesday at his official residence in Yongsan District, central Seoul. He has exercised his right to remain silent during the CIO investigators' questioning of him.  
 
By law, the agency has 48 hours from the moment it detained the president to keep him in custody under its original warrant to hold and investigate him over suspicions that he masterminded an insurrection against the country's democratic order by declaring martial law on Dec. 3. That timer was paused on Wednesday while the Seoul Central District Court considered a petition from Yoon's legal team challenging the validity of his detention. After the court dismissed the petition, that hold was lifted.
 
The CIO formally filed for an arrest warrant to extend the detainment of Yoon on Friday. 
 
The court issuing the arrest warrant Sunday would allow the CIO to hold the president for questioning for up to 20 more days.
 
Afterwards, the CIO will transfer the case to prosecutors for an indictment. The Constitutional Court is separately deliberating whether to uphold the parliament's decision to remove Yoon from office.  
 
Following the court's decision to arrest him, Yoon is expected undergo formal detainment procedures including a physical examination, assignment of a prisoner number and have a mug shot taken. He will also have to wear a prison uniform issued by the detention center instead of civilian clothing.   
 
Taking into consideration that Yoon is an incumbent president, he is expected to continue to be kept in solitary confinement.  
 
Yoon was impeached by the opposition-led National Assembly on Dec. 14 and has had his presidential powers suspended since.  
 

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]