Korea Turmoil 113 South Korea Detains Its President, but Crisis Is Far From Over Yoon Suk Yeol became the first South Korean leader to be held by criminal investigators, ending a long standoff after he imposed martial law. Listen to this article · 7:20 min Learn more Share full article 113 A line of cars book-ended by police vehicles with flashing lights drives along a road. A motorcade taking President Yoon Suk Yeol away from his residence in Seoul on Wednesday morning. He will be questioned about his declaration of martial law last month.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times Choe Sang-HunJin Yu YoungVictoria Kim By Choe Sang-HunJin Yu Young and Victoria Kim Choe Sang-Hun and Jin Yu Young reported from Seoul Jan. 14, 2025 President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea sounded defiant just over a year ago when the opposition-dominated National Assembly began threatening to impeach him. “​I say, ‘Try it, if you want!’” he said during a town-hall meeting. Mr. Yoon has not only been impeached, but on Wednesday he won ​an ignominious ​place in South Korean history when he became the first sitting president to be detained in a criminal investigation. His detention ended a weekslong ​political standoff and hand-wringing over what South Korea should do with a leader who declared martial law last month, a move that threatened decades of hard-won democracy in the country. But Seoul’s inability to deal with the question quickly — and the fact that it had to mobilize an army of law-enforcement forces to make him surrender — ​exposed how deep the fractures are in its politics. This entrenched political polarization, combined with Mr. Yoon’s uncompromising style and his personal animus toward his political enemies, led him down a path to​ the showdown with police Wednesday at the hilltop residence where he had retreated Since he won his election by a razor-thin margin in 20​22, Mr. Yoon has constantly clashed with the ​majority opposition over policies, scandals involving his wife and his hostile relationship with dissiden​ts, including journalists he accused of spreading “fake news.” His anger exploded on Dec. 3, when he declared martial law, calling his liberal enemies “anti-state forces” and the opposition-dominated National Assembly “a monster.” The law placed a ban on all political activities and put news media under military control, though the National Assembly killed his martial law decree before Mr. Yoon could enforce such moves. ​During the six hours of martial law, he ​ordered military commanders​ to break the Assembly’s doors down “with axes” or “by shooting, if necessary” and “drag out” lawmakers, according to prosecutors who ​have indicted the ​military generals on charges of helping Mr. Yoon commit insurrection​. Even after the Assembly voted down his decree and then impeached him, ​Mr. Yoon vowed to “fight to the end.” He holed up in his hilly residence in central Seoul — behind bodyguards, rolls of razor wire and barricades of buses. Mr. Yoon repeatedly ignored summons from investigators to face questioning​ for insurrection charges.