A South Korean court issued a warrant for Yoon’s arrest under martial law News

The court’s issuance of a warrant is the first time South Korean authorities want to arrest a sitting president.

A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol for his first-ever temporary declaration of martial law.

The Seoul Western District Court on Tuesday approved the warrant following a request by the Joint Investigation Headquarters, which is investigating the embattled South Korean leader for treason and abuse of power.

“The arrest warrant and search warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol, requested by the Joint Investigation Headquarters, was issued this morning,” the Joint Investigation Headquarters, which includes officials from the Chief Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), the police and the Ministry of Defense, said in a statement.

The move marks the first time authorities have sought to arrest a sitting South Korean president.

It is unclear when authorities may try to detain Yoon.

Yoon’s security detail had previously prevented investigators from executing dozens of search warrants at the presidential compound and the president’s residence.

The Presidential Security Service issued a statement shortly after the court’s decision that it will handle it according to the legal process.

South Korean media speculated that Yoon was unlikely to be arrested immediately as authorities would seek to cooperate with the president’s security service.

If Yoon is taken into custody, investigators will have 48 hours to decide whether to apply for a warrant to detain him for further questioning or release him.

Yun Gap-geun, Yoon’s lawyer, said in a statement that the warrant was “illegal and invalid”, saying the CIO did not have the authority to investigate the president for treason.

Kwon Sung-dong, a grassroots leader of Yoon’s People’s Power Party, also criticized the court’s decision to issue the warrant, describing it as “inappropriate”.

Yoon faces life imprisonment, or the death penalty, for his brief imposition of martial law on December 3, which plunged the East Asian country into its worst political crisis in decades.

Although Yoon cannot be prosecuted for many crimes during his presidency, he is not immune from charges of sedition or treason.

Yoon has been suspended from his post since December 14, when the National Assembly voted to remove him from office by a vote of 204-85.

Amid the tension in the country’s leadership, the opposition-controlled Legislature on Friday voted to replace acting president Han Duck-soo, transferring the president’s authority to Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok.

The Democratic Party and smaller opposition parties voted to criticize Han for his refusal to quickly appoint three judges to fill the vacancies on the Constitutional Court, debating whether to support Yoon’s impeachment.

The court has six months to make a decision, after which Yoon will be removed from office or reinstated as president.

Yoon defended his brief declaration of martial law as legitimate and necessary, citing the threat of “anti-state forces” and obstruction by his opposition rivals.