South Korean Law Enforcement Officers Detain Impeached President Yoon
HuffPost
South Korea’s anti-corruption agency says impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been detained hours after hundreds of the agency’s investigators and police officers arrived at his presidential compound to apprehend him.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was detained in a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential compound Wednesday, defiantly insisting the anti-corruption agency didn’t have the authority to investigate his actions but saying he complied to prevent violence.
In a video message recorded before he was escorted to the headquarters of the anti-corruption agency, Yoon lamented the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country.”
Yoon, the country’s first sitting president to be apprehended, had been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence in the capital, Seoul, for weeks while vowing to “fight to the end” the efforts to oust him. He has justified his declaration of martial law Dec. 3 as a legitimate act of governance against an “anti-state” opposition employing its legislative majority to thwart his agenda.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials said Yoon was brought into custody about five hours after investigators arrived at the presidential compound and about three hours after they successfully entered the residence, in their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law.
A series of black SUVs, some equipped with sirens, were seen leaving the presidential compound with police escorts. Yoon was later seen stepping out of a vehicle after arriving at the agency’s office in the nearby city of Gwacheon. Following the questioning, Yoon was expected to be sent to a detention center in Uiwang, near Seoul.
Maduro took the oath of office a day after the political opposition’s most prominent leader reported she had been briefly detained by state security forces.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned that ceasing military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”
The lack of transparency around Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya's whereabouts highlights the Israeli military's larger campaign of destroying Gaza's health care system.
Gaza's health ministry said women and children make up more than half the fatalities.
Self-exiled Edmundo González said Rafael Tudares was kidnapped while taking González’s two grandchildren to school in Caracas.
The president-elect’s eldest son landed in the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk on Tuesday.
Jean-Marie Le Pen’s divisive legacy endures, marking decades of French political history and shaping the trajectory of the far-right.
The latest release brings the total number of men detained at Guantanamo to 15. That's the fewest since 2002.
In Nepal's capital, Kathmandu, the earthquake sent residents running out of their homes.
After a barrage of attacks from the key adviser to Donald Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned "lies and misinformation."
Investigators failed to take Yoon Suk Yeol into custody following a standoff with the presidential security service last week.
Israel has helped a former soldier leave Brazil after legal action was initiated against him by a group accusing Israelis of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
The X owner's comments came just hours after Farage described him as "a hero."
“You have to stay cool,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the German magazine Stern.
"I would very much like President Trump’s unpredictability to be directed primarily toward the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
South Korean investigators left the president’s official residence after a nearly six-hour standoff during which he defied their attempt to detain him.
The government may try to impose a total ban on weapons “because we must ask ourselves after this who should be allowed to have guns in Montenegro," the prime minister said.
Families of the victims were taken to the crash site for the first time on New Year's Day to pay their respects.