South Korea prosecutors indict impeached President Yoon for insurrection

Yoon Suk Yeol, president of South Korea, is accused of leading an insurrection with his short-lived passage to martial law on December 3. His arrest is being brought before prosecutors in South Korea.

Yoon Suk Yeol, who is accused of being the ringleader of the insurrection, has been indicted, according to Democratic Party spokesman Han Min-soo at a press conference on Sunday.

“The insurrection’s ringleader’s punishment has finally begun.”

One of the few criminal offenses for which a South Korean president lacks immunity is insurrection. Although South Korea hasn’t executed anyone in decades, death or life imprisonment are both possible punishments.

The jailed Yoon, who was impeached by the legislature and given a suspension from his duties as a result of the incident, was given a recommendation last week by anticorruption investigators.

The prosecution was instructed by Yoon’s lawyers to release him from what they called unlawful custody right away.

Since becoming the first sitting president to be detained on January 15, he has been in custody pending a criminal investigation.

In his impeachment trial, Yoon and his supporters claimed that he had only intended to use the measures as a pretext to break political impasse by claiming at a hearing last week in the Constitutional Court that he had never intended to enact martial law.

With 180 days to decide, the top court will decide whether to remove Yoon from office or reinstate his presidential powers in addition to his criminal case.

South Korea’s opposition-led parliament impeached Yoon on December 14, making him the second conservative president to be impeached in the country.

After legislators from the main opposition party confronting soldiers in parliament, Yoon rescinded his martial law after about six hours.