Ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday refused to be questioned by investigators as part of a probe into whether he committed sedition, while dozens of his supporters face charges in connection with a rampage at a courthouse.
Authorities said security has been beefed up at the Seoul Detention Centre, where Yoon is being held as a prisoner pending trial, and at the Constitutional Court, where an impeachment trial to decide his eventual removal from office is underway.
Yoon plans to attend future impeachment hearings, including one on Tuesday, Yoon Kab-keun, one of his lawyers, said.
Hundreds of supporters of the arrested Yoon stormed the courthouse early Sunday morning after his detention was extended. Protesters smashed windows and broke in, which the country’s current leader called “unimaginable.”
Protesters fired fire extinguishers at police officers guarding the main entrance and then stormed inside, destroying office equipment, fittings and furniture, video footage showed.
Police restored order hours later, saying they had arrested 46 protesters and pledging to track down other protesters.
Last Wednesday, Yoon became the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested, facing mutiny charges related to his stunning but short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3 that plunged the country into political chaos.
Mutiny, an offence with which Yoon can be charged, is one of the few from which the South Korean president is not immune and is punishable by death. South Korea has never executed anyone in nearly 30 years yet.
