Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, was arrested after a weeks-long battle between his personal security and investigators, making him the nation’s first sitting president to be arrested.
Investigated on rebellion charges, Yoon’s failed attempt to implement martial law caused chaos throughout the nation and ultimately to his impeachment by parliament.
The validity of his impeachment must be determined by a constitutional court, thus he is still technically the president.
Using wirecutters and ladders, investigators braved the bitter cold to reach Yoon, whose capture had been thwarted by obstacles set up by members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS).
The 64-year-old leader claimed that in order to prevent violence, he consented to testify before the Corruption Investigation Office for High Ranking Officials (CIO)
Despite his opposition to the inquiry, Yoon stated in a three-minute video statement that he would cooperate with it.
He has insisted on the legal invalidity of the arrest warrant for him.
Yoon claimed to have seen police officers “invaded” the perimeter of his house with fire apparatus.
The daybreak operation on Wednesday, the second time cops attempted to apprehend him, involved almost 1,000 officers.
On January 3, the CIO, who is currently looking into Yoon, made an earlier attempt to arrest him.
After he repeatedly disregarded summonses to appear for interrogation, they were able to secure the warrant.