South Korea’s national police chief and top police officer for the capital Seoul have been detained for their roles in enforcing president Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law decree.
Police confirmed on Wednesday that the pair had been detained for their roles in last week’s events.
The development comes hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new motion to impeach Mr Yoon on the martial law introduction.
The party said it aims to put the motion on a floor vote on Saturday.
Participants stage a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment in front of the headquarters of the ruling People Power Party in Seoul, South Korea (Ahnn Young-joon/AP)
Earlier, Mr Yoon’s former defence minister Kim Yong Hyun was arrested after a Seoul court approved an arrest warrant for him on allegations of playing a key role in rebellion and committing abuse of power.
Mr Kim became the first person arrested over the December 3 martial law decree.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional.
They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during “wartime, war-like situations or other comparable national emergency states” and South Korea was not in such a situation.
They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the South Korean constitution does not allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.
In his martial law announcement, the conservative Mr Yoon stressed a need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces”, a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament.
Since taking office in 2022, he has had near-constant friction with the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which introduced motions to impeach some of his top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Mr Yoon and his wife.
Mr Yoon avoided impeachment on Saturday after most governing party lawmakers boycotted a floor vote in the National Assembly.
If he is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore them or remove him from office.