Yoon Suk Yeol

January 21, 2025 5:38 PM

South Korea’s Yoon defends actions at impeachment hearing over martial law decree

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attended on Tuesday a Constitutional Court hearing of his impeachment trial where he denied ordering military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament during his short-lived bid to impose martial law. Near the start of the hearing, Yoon said he had worked in public service with "a firm commitment to free democracy", when invited by the acting chief justice, Moon Hyung-bae, to speak. Dressed in a navy-coloured suit with a burgundy tie, Yoon, a career p...

January 20, 2025 2:16 PM

South Korea’s Yoon shuns questioning as security tightened after court rampage

South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol refused on Monday to be questioned by investigators under a probe into whether he committed insurrection, as dozens of his supporters faced arrest over a violent rampage on a court building. Authorities said security was being beefed up at the Seoul Detention Centre where Yoon is being held as a pre-trial inmate and at the Constitutional Court which is holding an impeachment trial to decide whether to permanently remove him from office. Yoon beca...

January 15, 2025 7:29 PM

What you need to know about the arrest of South Korea’s Yoon

South Korean investigators arrested impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday for alleged insurrection over his bid to impose martial law, after weeks of defiance and claims by Yoon and his lawyers that the arrest warrant was invalid. Here is what we know about his arrest so far: WHY WAS YOON ARRESTED? Yoon's arrest stems from his brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, which stunned South Koreans as he declared on national television his aim to root out "anti-state forces" and to ove...

January 14, 2025 10:03 AM

Trial of South Korea’s impeached President Yoon set to begin

The trial of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was set to start on Tuesday with oral arguments over his short-lived bid to impose martial law which threw the country into the worst political chaos in decades. However, the Constitutional Court session is likely to be cut short as Yoon, who has been holed up in his hillside villa in Seoul for weeks, is not expected to attend. The next trial session is scheduled for Thursday. The Constitutional Court must decide within 180 days whether to remove...

January 10, 2025 4:11 PM

South Korean leader’s security chief warns against violent attempts to arrest Yoon

The security chief of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, under investigation for blocking Yoon's arrest, resigned on Friday and said any further efforts to detain the ex-leader must avoid bloodshed. Yoon's short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3 has plunged one of Asia's most vibrant democracies into a period of unprecedented political turbulence. As a top Court deliberates over lawmakers' decision to impeach Yoon, who is holed up at his hillside residence, anti-graft off...

December 14, 2024 9:56 AM

South Korea’s Yoon faces second impeachment vote over martial law bid

A defiant South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a second impeachment vote on Saturday over his short-lived attempt to impose martial law, a move that shocked the country, split his party and imperilled his presidency half way through his term. Yoon rescinded his Dec. 3 move to impose military rule barely six hours later, after the opposition-controlled parliament defied troops and police to vote against the decree. But it plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered wides...

December 12, 2024 2:28 PM

South Korean President Yoon vows defiance amid rising impeachment threats, accuses North Korea of election interference

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said he would "fight to the end" on Thursday as his own political party shifted closer to voting with the opposition to impeach him over his short-lived martial law order that threw the U.S. ally into turmoil. In a lengthy televised address, the embattled leader of Asia's fourth-largest economy also claimed North Korea had hacked South Korea's election commission, throwing doubt on his party's landslide election defeat in April. Yoon is hoping his political...

December 12, 2024 9:54 AM

South Korean President Yoon vows to ‘fight to the end’

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday lashed out at his political opponents as "anti-state forces", said North Korea has hacked the country's elections and defended his short-lived martial law order as a legal move to protect democracy. Yoon said the opposition was "dancing the sword dance of madness" by trying to drag a democratically elected president from power, nine days after his aborted attempt to grant sweeping powers to the military. "I will fight to the end," he said in a l...

December 4, 2024 8:46 AM

America welcomes South Korean President Yoon’s decision to lift martial law

The US on Wednesday welcomed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's rescinding of the martial law declaration following the National Assembly's unanimous vote to reject it. In a statement issued by US State Department, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, emphasised the importance of resolving political disagreements peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law. He also reiterated the US's commitment to supporting the people of Korea and the enduring alliance between the US and South Ko...

May 29, 2024 4:53 PM

North Korea sends balloons carrying excrement over border, South Korea says

South Korea accused North Korea on Wednesday of sending a large number of balloons across their heavily fortified border to drop objects including trash and excrement, calling the act base and dangerous. The military's explosives ordnance unit and chemical and biological warfare response team were deployed to inspect and collect the objects, and an alert was issued warning residents to keep away and report any sightings to authorities. By Wednesday afternoon, more than 260 balloons had been de...