South Korea’s President Yoon attends court hearing on extending detention

SEOUL - South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attended a court hearing on Jan 18 to fight a request by investigators to extend his detention on accusations of insurrection, his lawyer said.

Mr Yoon on Jan 15 became the country’s first sitting president

to be arrested,

in a criminal probe related to his short-lived

declaration of martial law

on Dec 3.

Investigators requested a detention warrant on Jan 17 to

extend their custody of Mr Yoon

for up to 20 days. He has been refusing to talk to investigators, and has been held in Seoul Detention Centre since his arrest.

After the hearing, Mr Yoon returned to Seoul Detention Centre to await the court’s decision, which is expected on Jan 18 or 19.

The hearing at Seoul Western District Court lasted nearly five hours. Mr Yoon spoke for about 40 minutes during the hearing, Yonhap News Agency said, citing his lawyer.

“(Yoon) sincerely explained and answered questions on factual relationships, evidence and legal principles... We will quietly wait for the court to decide,” said Yoon’s lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, after the hearing.

Mr Yoon had decided to attend the hearing “to restore his honour by directly explaining the legitimacy of emergency martial law and that insurrection is not established”, his lawyer said earlier on Jan 17.

TV channels showed a convoy of around a dozen cars and police motorbikes escorting Mr Yoon from the detention centre to the court.

Police broke up a crowd of Yoon supporters blocking the court gate in the morning, but thousands of supporters surrounded the court after the hearing began around 2pm (1pm Singapore time), chanting “release the president” from behind a police barricade.

“There are so many supporters of President Yoon Suk Yeol around the court, who still believe in the rule of law and are defending the president,” said Mr Lee Se-ban, a 30-year-old man.

Multiple people were arrested by the police for trying to break into the court grounds, including a young man who tried to escape, according to a Reuters witness.

Insurrection, the crime Mr Yoon is alleged to have committed, is one of the few that an incumbent South Korean president does not have immunity from. REUTERS