‘I will go to the interrogations to avoid bloodshed
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been arrested. This was reported by Seoul’s anti-corruption agency (CIO), thus making the former national chief prosecutor the first president in office – albeit suspended from his duties due to the ongoing impeachment proceedings – in the history of South Korea to end up in handcuffs.
Yoon said he agreed and decided to submit to anti-corruption interrogations over the brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 in order to avoid “bloodshed.” Despite “the numerous illegalities alleged in the investigation, I decided to respond to the Corruption Investigation Bureau,” Yoon said in a pre-recorded video message, reiterating that he did not accept “the legality of the investigation” and specifying that he was complying ” to prevent any unfortunate bloodshed.”
The investigators, after long negotiations, succeeded in their second attempt to arrest Yoon at his residence: the arrest warrant “was executed at 10:33” (2:33 in Italy), the Office of Criminal Investigation reported. corruption investigation for high-ranking officials (CIO), the Seoul anti-corruption, excluding any possibility of voluntary appearance. Live TV footage also broadcast in streaming showed a convoy of vehicles, including buses and police cars, leaving the presidential residence complex in the center of the South Korean capital to head towards the IOC headquarters in Gwacheon, south of Seoul.
Furthermore, the anti-corruption agency did not report any physical confrontation unlike what happened in the first arrest attempt on January 3, in the midst of the mobilization of around 3,000 agents, part of an operation that took into account possible clashes between opponents and Yoon supporters. The police, among other things, used force to push through the crowd that formed in front of the presidential residence and to remove the barricades that have transformed the residence into a sort of bunker in recent days, complete with barbed wire placed on the walls. The IOC’s previous arrest attempt failed after a six-hour standoff with presidential security guards amid tensions and fears of a potential armed conflict.
