Yoon Faces Arrest and Uncertain Future in Rebellion Case

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol Faces Potential Arrest

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol is facing potential arrest after spending three days in a detention center. His lawyers' last-minute attempt to secure his release was unsuccessful.

Yoon faces potential rebellion charges linked to his declaration of martial law on December 3rd, which triggered the country's most serious political crisis since its democratization in the late 1980s.

A court-ordered arrest could lead to an extended period in custody for Yoon. He faces both criminal charges and a Constitutional Court ruling in the coming weeks that will determine whether he is dismissed or reinstated to office.

If formally arrested, investigators can extend Yoon's detention to 20 days, during which they will transfer the case to public prosecutors for indictment. This could mark the beginning of an extended period in custody for Yoon, lasting months or possibly longer.

If prosecutors indict Yoon on rebellion and abuse of power charges, they can possibly keep him under arrest for up to six months until an initial court ruling. If convicted, Yoon would serve his sentence as the case moves through the courts. Under South Korean law, orchestrating a rebellion is punishable by up to life imprisonment or the death penalty.

Yoon's lawyers have argued that there is no need to detain him during the investigation, saying he doesn't pose a threat to flee or destroy evidence. However, investigators point out that Yoon ignored several requests to appear for questioning, and the presidential security service blocked an attempt to detain him on January 3rd.

To avoid conviction on rebellion charges, Yoon would need to support his claim that martial law was intended as a temporary and "peaceful" warning to the liberal opposition, which he accuses of obstructing his agenda and paralyzing state affairs with its legislative majority.

However, military commanders have described a deliberate attempt to seize the legislature that was thwarted by civilians and legislative staff, and by the troops' reluctance or refusal to follow Yoon's orders.

Prosecutors' indictment of Yoon's former defense minister states that Yoon ordered the military and police to arrest key politicians or any lawmaker attempting to enter the assembly, desperate to prevent the legislature from gathering the votes necessary to overturn his martial law order.

Those details align with the legislative testimony of the now-arrested commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, who said Yoon directly instructed him to have troops pull out the lawmakers but that he didn't carry out those orders.