Written by Brayden Lindreastaff writerReviewed by Felix Ngstaff editorImpeached South Korean president Yoon arrested weeks after martial law attempt
Latest NewsPublishedJan 15, 2025
The impeached South Korean president was taken into custody for questioning by South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office on Jan. 15.
South Korean authorities have reportedly arrested the country’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, making him the country’s first sitting president to ever be taken into custody.
Yoon was taken from his residence on Jan. 15 for questioning over his controversial martial law ruling last month, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported.
Photos on social media platforms like X supposedly showed Yoon entering a vehicle that presumably took him in for questioning.
BREAKING: CIO says they executed the warrant to detain impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to question him over his botched martial law decree pic.twitter.com/SRSkWkZgV7— Joseph Kim (@josungkim) January 15, 2025
Yoon was arrested by South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office after a warrant for his arrest was executed at 10:33 am local time, Yonhap News Agency reported. Approximately 80 police officers and investigators showed up at Yoon’s residence to carry out the arrest, CNN reported.
South Korea’s legislature overrode Yoon’s martial law decree roughly six hours after it was declared on Dec. 3 local time.
Yoon was then impeached 11 days later, on Dec. 14.
Yoon said he declared martial law in response to claimed “threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces” and to “eliminate anti-state elements.”
While no charges have been laid, leading an insurrection is a crime punishable by life imprisonment or even death in South Korea.
The martial law triggered a liquidity crisis on several South Korean cryptocurrency trading platforms including Upbit, which saw Bitcoin (BTC) fall as low as 92 million Korean won ($65,000) at the time — around $30,000 less than its price on most other platforms around the world.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency prices paired with the Korean won have since recovered.
Related: South Korea’s Democratic Party agrees to delay crypto tax by 2 years
One day before martial law was declared, on Dec. 2, South Korea’s retail cryptocurrencies trading volumes reached their second-highest level for 2024, with traders in a frenzy over a series of “high momentum” altcoins, including XRP (XRP), Dogecoin (DOGE) and Stellar (XRM).
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