SEOUL (Realist English). A South Korean court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for former President Yoon Suk Yeol, placing him in custody for a second time over his alleged attempt to impose martial law during the final weeks of his presidency.
Judge Nam Se-jin of the Seoul Central District Court approved the request from special counsel Cho Eun-suk, citing concerns that Yoon could attempt to destroy key evidence related to the case. Yoon, who appeared in court alongside his legal team, denied all charges but was remanded to the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, just south of the capital.
According to the special counsel’s office, Yoon faces five primary charges:
- Abuse of power: selectively excluding cabinet members from a crucial national security meeting held shortly before his December 3 declaration of martial law;
- Forgery and misuse of documents: allegedly drafting a backdated martial law order after the fact to legitimize the move, securing signatures from then-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, before discarding the original version;
- Spreading false information: instructing a presidential press officer to distribute misleading statements to foreign media denying his intent to undermine the constitutional order;
- Obstruction of justice: allegedly ordering the Presidential Security Service to block his arrest by prosecutors in early January;
- Tampering with evidence: instructing staff to erase encrypted phone records used by three senior military commanders.
This marks Yoon’s second detention. He was first arrested in January 2025, while still in office, but released in March after a court accepted his appeal to cancel the arrest warrant.
The investigation into Yoon’s martial law attempt has become a defining moment in South Korea’s post-presidency accountability politics, raising wider questions about civilian-military boundaries and the limits of executive power in times of political crisis.