What is Martial Law Controversy Following Which South Korea's Impeached President Yoon Has Been Arrested?

Seoul: After a failed try, a second attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon is being made and the law enforcement officials have entered his residential compound. Will South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol be arrested today?

What is the Martial Law Controversy?

Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops around the National Assembly on December 3. It lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and vote to lift the measure.

Yoon's presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on December 14, accusing him of rebellion. His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.

In preventing Yoon's detention on January 3, presidential bodyguards were assisted by troops assigned to guard the presidential residence under the command of the presidential security service. However, Defence Ministry spokesperson Lee Kyung-ho said on Tuesday the troops will no longer participate in efforts to block the execution of Yoon's detention warrant and will focus solely on guarding the compound's perimeter. 

Law Enforcement Officials Enter Yoon's Residential Compound

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Yoon's brief martial law declaration on December 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on January 3.

Anti-corruption investigators and police officers could be deployed in a potentially multiday operation to apprehend Yoon, who has been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence for weeks. Yoon has justified his martial law decree as a legitimate act of governance against an "anti-state" opposition bogging down his agenda with its legislative majority and vowed to "fight to the end" against efforts to oust him.

Despite a court warrant for Yoon's detention, the presidential security service has insisted it's obligated to protect the impeached president and has fortified the compound with barbed wire and rows of buses blocking paths. As tensions escalated, South Korea's acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, issued a statement urging law enforcement and the presidential security service to ensure there are no "physical clashes".

Groups of police officers dressed in black jackets and police vehicles, including a white van possibly with members of a search and arrest team inside, were seen in front of the presidential compound's closed metal gate. Separate groups of police officers were also seen moving up a trekking path near the hilly compound, apparently pursuing another route to get inside. Some police officers were later seen successfully entering the residence, using ladders to climb over rows of buses the presidential security service placed as a barricade.

South Korea's Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol Arrested

South Korea's anti-corruption agency says impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been detained hours after the hundreds of the agency's investigators and police officers arrived at his presidential compound to apprehend him. A series of black SUVs, some equipped with sirens, were seen leaving the presidential compound with police escorts.

(Inputs from AP)