South Korea's Impeached President Is Arrested Over Martial-Law Move

South Korean authorities arrested and detained for questioning the country's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, deepening the fallout from his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.

- Dasl Yoon, Soobin Kim & Timothy W. Martin

South Korean authorities arrested and detained for questioning the country's impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, deepening the fallout from his short-lived declaration of martial law last month. Never before has a South Korean sitting president been arrested. The 64-year-old Yoon is being investigated on possible allegations of insurrection, among others. He was detained at the country's presidential residence in central Seoul, where investigators had backed down in a first attempt earlier this month after a tense standoff with Yoon's armed bodyguards.

For their second try, investigators showed up with about 1,000 personnel, roughly 160 buses, riot police and specialized law-enforcement units that typically deal with organized crime or drug trafficking. Yoon's security personnel fortified the presidential compound with extra barbed wire and new barricades following the unsuccessful attempt on Jan. 3.

After a roughly six-hour standoff on Wednesday, Yoon slid into a black SUV around 10:30 a.m. and was driven to the special investigator's office in a Seoul suburb. Special investigators will now have 48 hours to request a formal arrest warrant that would keep Yoon in detention as the criminal investigation against him unfolds. If a judge declines, Yoon would walk free.