SEOUL: South Korean police have begun investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol for alleged “insurrection” over his declaration of martial law, a senior police officer said on Thursday (Dec 5).
Woo Jong-soo, head of the National Investigation Headquarters of the National Police Agency, told lawmakers that “the case has been assigned,” footage showed.
Yoon’s declaration of South Korea’s first martial law in more than four decades was swiftly overturned by lawmakers in scenes of high drama, but it has plunged the country into turmoil and alarmed allies.
The future of Yoon, a conservative politician and former star public prosecutor elected president in 2022, now looks highly uncertain.
Opposition lawmakers had jumped fences and tussled with security forces to get into parliament and vote down the martial law overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, and they then filed a motion to impeach Yoon.
The motion says Yoon “violated the constitution and the law” and accuses him of imposing martial law to evade investigations “into alleged illegal acts involving himself and his family”.
