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Supporters of South Korea’s suspended president stormed a Seoul courthouse early on Sunday morning after a judge extended Yoon Suk Yeol’s detention on charges of insurrection and abuse of power.
More than 40,000 people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday evening in a show of support for Yoon as investigators sought to extend his detention. He was arrested on Wednesday over a failed attempt to impose martial law last month.
After a judge issued the extension at around 3am local time, dozens of supporters broke through police barricades and stormed the building, according to the South Korean police, smashing windows and doors and blasting fire extinguishers at officers guarding the courthouse entrance.
Police reinforcements eventually took back control of the building and arrested almost 90 people, according to local media reports.
The clash is the latest chapter in a spiralling political crisis triggered by Yoon’s decision last month to dispatch troops to the country’s national assembly as he tried to prevent lawmakers from rejecting his attempt to impose military rule on the east Asian country.
Yoon was suspended from his duties after the national assembly passed an impeachment motion by a two-thirds majority last month. But he has vowed to “fight to the very end”, claiming he is a victim of a conspiracy of leftwing and pro-North Korea forces.
Many of Yoon’s hardline supporters have adopted the language of US president Donald Trump’s followers, carrying US flags and holding English-language placards with the words “Stop the Steal” — a reference to allegations of fraud in the 2020 US presidential election that preceded the storming of the US Capitol by Trump supporters on January 6 2021.
While his powers have been transferred to deputy prime minister Choi Sang-mok as acting president, Yoon remains South Korea’s head of state as the country’s Constitutional Court deliberates on whether to approve his impeachment or reinstate him in office.
Yoon was arrested and detained on Wednesday after an hours-long stand-off at his hilltop compound between his security detail and investigators from South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office.
The president’s legal team have repeatedly argued that the CIO has no standing to investigate charges of insurrection, and that the Seoul Western District Court has no jurisdiction in his case. Both claims have been rejected by South Korean judges.
According to the CIO, Yoon has refused to co-operate with investigators since his detention on Wednesday. The extended warrant means that he can be held for questioning for a further 20 days, during which time he is likely to be held in solitary confinement due to his status as the head of state.
Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer for Yoon, wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday morning that he had 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 be “caught up in targeted attacks or counter-attacks by leftist forces.”
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