South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol Arrested in "Insurrection Case

South Korea's anti-corruption agency, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), has decided to refer the arrested President Yoon Suk-yeol's "insurrection case" to the prosecution. The CIO has no right to indict the president, so they are transferring the case to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

Yoon was arrested on January 15th, becoming the country's first sitting president to be arrested. He was apprehended in the presidential office. A warrant to extend his detention for up to 20 days was granted by a Seoul court on January 19th.

The CIO and the prosecution agreed to jointly investigate Yoon's "insurrection" charge by questioning the impeached president for 10 respective days. The prosecution is expected to indict Yoon for the "insurrection" and other charges around February 5th.

Yoon has rejected the CIO's repeated calls to appear for questioning. He was impeached by the National Assembly on December 14th, 2023. The impeachment motion was delivered to the constitutional court to deliberate it for up to 180 days, during which Yoon's presidential power is suspended.

Yoon was named by investigative agencies as a suspected ringleader on the "insurrection" charge. He declared a martial law on the night of December 3rd, but it was revoked by the National Assembly hours later.