South Korea's martial law commander arrested

ISTANBUL

Gen. Park An-su, the commander of short-lived martial law in South Korea, was arrested on Tuesday, becoming the fifth person to be taken into custody.

Park is the army chief of staff who served as martial law commander after President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed martial law on Dec. 3. The Defense Ministry suspended Park from his duties after he offered to resign.

A court issued an arrest warrant for the commander on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of power, according to the Yonhap news agency.

Authorities have so far arrested former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Lt. Gen. Yeo In-hyung, head of the Defense Counterintelligence Command; Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, head of the Army Special Warfare Command; and Lt. Gen. Lee Jin-woo, head of the Capital Defense Command.

Several other military officers have been suspended from their duties.

Park served for only a few hours as chief of Yoon’s martial law command, which was disbanded when lawmakers overturned the president’s decree. He had issued an order banning all political activity, including gatherings by the parliament as well as control over media.

Yoon was impeached by the National Assembly on Saturday and will face first trial hearing by the Constitutional Court on Dec. 27.

He remains suspended from duties until the top court decides on the impeachment motion and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is serving as acting president.

The court may take up to six months.

Yoon’s powers can be restored if the top court decides against the impeachment.

Separately, he is facing cases of treason and insurrection under which he can also be arrested.

However, the 63-year-old embattled leader has defied summons to appear before a joint investigation team on Wednesday.

Yoon was summoned by a team of police, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and the Defense Ministry's investigation unit, for questioning over alleged insurrection and abuse of power.

But officials at the presidential residence returned the summons.

On Sunday, Yoon refused to attend a separate hearing called by the prosecutor's office.

"Once a summons arrives, we regard it as the person in question being aware regardless of whether they received it or not," said a police official.

Investigators on Tuesday raided the presidential office, the second time in a week, but Yoon’s office blocked their entry.