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Supporters of South Korea’s suspended president stormed a Seoul courthouse early Sunday morning after a judge extended Yoon Seok-yeol’s detention on charges of rebellion and abuse of power.
More than 40,000 people gathered outside the Western District Court in Seoul on Saturday night to show support for Yoon as investigators sought to extend his detention. He was arrested on Wednesday following a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
According to South Korean police, at about 3 a.m. local time, after the judge announced the postponement, dozens of supporters broke through police barricades, rushed into the court building, smashed doors and windows, and fired fire extinguishers at police guarding the entrance to the court.
Police reinforcements eventually regained control of the building and arrested nearly 90 people, local media reported.
The clashes are the latest chapter in an escalating political crisis stemming from Yoon’s decision last month to send troops to South Korea’s National Assembly as he sought to prevent lawmakers from rejecting his attempt to impose military rule over the East Asian country.
Mr Yoon was suspended after the National Assembly passed an impeachment motion with a two-thirds majority last month. But he vowed to “fight to the end” and claimed he was the victim of a conspiracy by left-wing and pro-North Korea forces.
Many of Yin’s hardline supporters adopted the language of followers of U.S. President Donald Trump, carrying American flags and carrying placards in English that read “Stop the Steal” – a reference to the 2020 U.S. election that preceded the attacks. Allegations of Fraud in the Presidential Election.
While his power has been transferred to Vice Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president, Yoon Eun-hye remains South Korea’s head of state as the country’s Constitutional Court considers whether to approve his impeachment or reinstate him.
On Wednesday, Yoon was arrested and detained after an hours-long standoff between his security guards and investigators from the Korea Corruption Investigation Office at his hilltop compound.
The president’s legal team has repeatedly argued that the information chief is not qualified to investigate the rebellion charges and that the Seoul Western District Court has no jurisdiction over his case. Both charges were dismissed by a South Korean judge.
Yin has refused to cooperate with investigators since being detained Wednesday, according to the chief information officer. Extending the arrest warrant means he can be detained for interrogation for a further 20 days, during which time he is likely to be held in solitary confinement due to his status as head of state.
Yoon’s lawyer, Seok Dong-hyeon, posted on Facebook on Sunday morning that he found the court’s decision “really hard to understand.” But he called on the president’s supporters not to “go too far” as they could “fall into targeted attacks or counterattacks from the left”.
