At dawn on July 10th, local time, the Central District Court of Seoul, South Korea, after reviewing the case, approved the arrest application submitted by the Special Investigation Team for Unrest against Yoon Suk-yeol, issuing a warrant for his arrest.
Yoon Suk-yeol was immediately taken into custody.
This marks the 124th day since he was released from detention by the court on March 8th this year.
On the evening of July 9th, local time, Yoon Suk-yeol concluded his review and left the court.
From the afternoon to the evening of July 9th, the Central District Court of Seoul conducted an almost seven-hour review of the necessity of detention for Yoon Suk-yeol; following the review, he was transferred to the Seoul Detention Center in Ilbo City, Gyeonggi Province, awaiting the court’s decision.
The court found that Yoon Suk-yeol had “the potential to destroy evidence and the possibility of escaping.”
After review, the Central District Court of Seoul issued a warrant for his arrest due to the “potential to destroy evidence.”
According to the Special Investigation Team for Unrest, Yoon Suk-yeol made a summary speech of about 20 minutes during the review process, arguing that his charges were unfounded. The Special Investigation Team prepared 178 presentation slides to prove that Yoon Suk-yeol was inevitably arrested due to his serious crimes of undermining the rule of law and judicial order. The team also submitted an opinion letter of about 300 pages to the court. Yoon Suk-yeol’s legal team also presented 167 presentation slides to refute the suspicions raised by the Special Investigation Team.
It is understood that the Central District Court of Seoul accepted the claims of the Special Investigation Team, believing that Yoon Suk-yeol falsely claimed to have declared an emergency state through legal procedures but then fabricated documents declaring martial law after the emergency state was lifted, and instructed the deletion of encryption phone records among other things as co-conspirators in the unrest. “These actions themselves amount to the destruction of evidence.”
Furthermore, the court also believes that Yoon Suk-yeol has repeatedly refused to cooperate with investigations without just cause and consistently adopted a non-cooperative attitude during the chaos trial.
Therefore, the claim of “possibility of escaping” made by the special prosecutorial team is reasonable in the case of Yoon Suk-yeol being sentenced to a heavy penalty, and thus an arrest warrant was issued for him.
On the evening of the 9th local time, Yoon Suk-yeol’s vehicle entered the Seoul Detention Center.
Subsequently, Yoon Suk-yeol will continue to undergo investigation and trial regarding the “chaos case” while detained, and South Korean investigative authorities may also file additional charges against him.
The special prosecutorial team will conduct a maximum 20-day investigation of Yoon Suk-yeol.
On the 6th of this month, the special prosecutorial team responsible for investigating emergency martial law incidents submitted a request to the court for the arrest of Yoon Suk-yeol on suspicion of abuse of power and other violations.
After Yoon Suk-yeol’s arrest, the special prosecutorial team will conduct a maximum 20-day investigation of him.
Previously, the special prosecutorial team stated that Yoon Suk-yeol was suspected of obstructing the execution of special duties, violating the Presidential Guard Law, abuse of power, and forging official documents. Since the internal conflict charge mentioned in the request for arrest had been confirmed by both the prosecution and police investigations,
the investigation is expected to focus on Yoon Suk-yeol’s suspicion of external threats, including creating reasons for declaring martial law, invading North Korea’s capital Pyongyang with drones to provocate the North.
Timeline of Yoon Suk-yeol’s Arrests:
On the evening of December 3rd, 2024, then-South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol issued an emergency martial law order.
On December 14th, 2024, the South Korean National Assembly passed a motion for impeachment against Yoon Suk-yeol, leading to his suspension from office.
On January 15th, 2025, the Joint Investigation Division of South Korea executed an arrest warrant for Yoon Suk-yeol. This marked the first arrest of a serving president in South Korean constitutional history.
In the early hours of January 19th, 2025, the Western District Court of Seoul approved the detention order for Yoon Suk-yeol.
Yin Siyue became the first president in South Korea’s constitutional history to be detained and investigated while in office.
On January 26, 2025, the Special Investigation Division of the Prosecutor’s Office of South Korea urgently detained Yin Siyue on charges of “suspected internal unrest.” This marked Yin Siyue as the first president in South Korean constitutional history to be prosecuted for his position.
On March 7, 2025, the Seoul Central District Court approved an application by Yin Siyue for the release from detention. Yin Siyue was released from custody that afternoon and left the Seoul detention center.
On April 4, 2025, the Constitutional Court of South Korea passed a ruling to impeach Yin Siyue. On the same day, Yin Siyue was immediately removed from office as president.
On June 5, 2025, the National Assembly passed the “Internal Unrest Special Investigation Act” aimed at investigating the truth behind Yin Siyue’s alleged internal unrest. Five days later, President Lee Jae-myung chaired a national meeting to review and approve the special investigation act.
On June 24, 2025, the special investigation team applied to the court for arrest of Yin Siyue, which was denied the following day.
On June 28, 2025, Yin Siyue made his first appearance for an investigation by the special investigation team.
On July 5, 2025, Yin Siyue attended the second summons by the special investigation team.
On July 6, 2025, the special investigation team requested the Seoul Central District Court to issue an arrest warrant for Yin Siyue.
On July 9, 2025, the Seoul Central District Court conducted a necessity review of the arrest warrant against Yin Siyue, who attended.
In the early hours of July 10, 2025, the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant for Yin Siyue.