SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s leadership crisis deepened on Sunday as prosecutors named President Yoon Suk Yeol as a subject of a criminal investigation over last week’s martial law attempt, and his former defence minister was arrested.
Yoon survived an impeachment vote in the opposition-led parliament late on Saturday, prompted by his short-lived attempt to impose martial law on Tuesday, but the leader of his own party said the president would effectively be excluded from his duties before eventually stepping down.
The leader of Yoon’s People Power Party, Han Dong-hoon, told a press conference alongside the prime minister on Sunday that Yoon would not be involved in foreign and other state affairs before his early resignation.
Meanwhile, thousands of people rallied in front of the parliament in Seoul on Sunday, calling for the impeachment and arrest of Yoon and the disbandment of his ruling party.
The main opposition Democratic Party called for the immediate suspension of Yoon’s presidential duties and for stripping him of authority to control the military. The party also called for the arrest of Yoon and related military officials implicated in the martial law fiasco.
Prosecutors had “booked” Yoon, a process in South Korea that involves formally naming subjects of investigation. Three minority opposition parties filed a complaint with the prosecution against Yoon, ex-Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, and martial law commander Park An-su, accusing them of insurrection.
Kim, who stepped down on Wednesday after Yoon rescinded martial law, was seen as a central figure in the debacle. He had proposed martial law to the president, according to a senior military official and the impeachment filings.
The prosecution’s special investigative team arrested Kim on Sunday and seized his mobile phone, it said in a brief statement to reporters. Before the arrest, investigators questioned Kim, who voluntarily appeared at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday.
