South Korean court approves arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

A South Korean court has approved an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, marking the first time in the nation’s history that a sitting president faces arrest.

The Seoul Western District Court granted the warrant at the request of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), escalating the political crisis engulfing Asia’s fourth-largest economy, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

Yoon, who was impeached and suspended from office earlier this month, is under investigation for allegedly leading an insurrection, a charge from which South Korean presidents lack immunity. His trial on impeachment charges is concurrently underway at the Constitutional Court.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who briefly served as acting president after Yoon’s impeachment, was also impeached by the opposition-dominated parliament last week. Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok has since assumed the role of acting president amid heightened tensions. The political turmoil is compounded by the fallout from deadly crash of Jeju Air flight 7C2216 on December 29, which claimed 179 lives, marking South Korea's deadliest air disaster.

The arrest warrant for Yoon is valid until January 6. If executed, the former president will be detained at the Seoul Detention Center, according to the Yonhap news agency. Meanwhile, Yoon’s legal team has vowed to challenge the warrant in the Constitutional Court, arguing that the CIO lacked the authority to issue it.

The investigation centres on Yoon’s December 3 declaration of martial law, an unprecedented move since the 1980s that attempted to ban political activity and censor the media. The order was met with swift resistance, including protests outside the National Assembly and lawmakers rejecting the decree. Yoon rescinded the martial law hours after it was issued, but the political fallout led to his impeachment on December 14.

Kim Yong-hyun, Yoon’s former defence minister and a key figure behind the martial law decision, was indicted last week on charges of insurrection and abuse of power.

The People Power Party’s acting leader, Kweon Seong-dong, criticised the arrest attempt, calling it inappropriate and further deepening divisions. In contrast, opposition Democratic Party lawmaker Kim Yong-min urged investigators to immediately execute the warrant, highlighting the difficulty of enforcing it amid resistance from the presidential security service.

The next hearing in Yoon’s impeachment trial is scheduled for January 3, while the country remains on edge over the unprecedented legal and political ramifications of detaining a sitting president.

By Vugar Khalilov