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Supporters of South Korea’s suspended president stormed a court in Seoul early Sunday morning after a judge extended Yoon Suk Yeol’s detention on charges of sedition and abuse of power.
More than 40,000 people gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday evening in a show of support for Yoon as investigators sought to extend his detention. He was arrested on Wednesday for a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
After a judge granted the extension around 3 a.m. local time, dozens of supporters broke through police barricades and stormed the building, according to South Korean police, smashing windows and doors and throwing fire extinguishers at officers guarding the court’s entrance. .
Police reinforcements eventually retook control of the building and arrested almost 90 people, according to local media reports.
The clash is the latest chapter in a spiraling political crisis sparked by Yoon’s decision last month to send troops to the country’s national assembly as he sought to prevent lawmakers from rejecting his bid to impose military rule in the Asian nation. Eastern.
Yoon was suspended from his duties after the national assembly passed an impeachment motion with a two-thirds majority last month. But he has vowed to “fight to the end”, claiming he is the victim of a conspiracy by leftist and pro-North Korean forces.
Many of Yoon’s hard-line supporters have adopted the language of followers of US President Donald Trump, carrying American flags and holding placards in English with the words “Stop the Steal” – a reference to allegations of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. in the US that preceded the attack. of the US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
While his powers have been transferred to Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president, Yoon remains South Korea’s head of state while the country’s Constitutional Court debates whether to approve his impeachment or reinstate him.
Yoon was arrested and detained on Wednesday after an hours-long standoff at his hilltop compound between his security detail and investigators from South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Bureau.
The president’s legal team has repeatedly argued that the CIO has no right to investigate the sedition charges and that the Seoul Western District Court has no jurisdiction over his case. Both claims have been dismissed by South Korean judges.
According to the CIO, Yoon has refused to cooperate with investigators since his detention on Wednesday. The extended order means he can be held for questioning for another 20 days, during which time he is likely to be held in solitary confinement because of his status as head of state.
Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer for Yoon, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday morning that he found the court’s decision “really hard to understand.” But he called on the president’s supporters not to “go too far” as they could be “caught in targeted attacks or counter-attacks by leftist forces”.
