South Korea’s Justice Ministry barred President Yoon Suk Yeol from leaving the country on Monday as officials investigate whether his brief declaration of martial law last week amounted to leading an insurrection.
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The justice ministry approved the travel ban on Monday afternoon. Oh Dong-woon, the chief prosecutor who heads the office for investigating high-ranking officials, earlier told lawmakers that he was seeking the ban as they carry out search and seizure operations targeting officials who were involved in the martial law order.
No sitting president has ever been arrested in South Korea. The president can be arrested or indicted while in office if he commits insurrection or treason.
The investigation and travel ban are part of the spiraling fallout of Mr. Yoon’s extraordinary move last Tuesday, which has thrust the country into a leadership vacuum and triggered widespread protests calling for his removal. An attempt on Saturday by opposition lawmakers to impeach Mr. Yoon failed, prolonging the uncertainty over who was at the nation’s helm.
South Korea’s defense ministry said Monday in a regularly scheduled briefing that command over the country’s military remained with the president.
Opposition lawmakers have accused Mr. Yoon and officials including his former defense minister, Kim Yong-hyun, of staging an insurrection when they sent armed soldiers into the National Assembly in an attempt to seize the legislative body after the declaration of martial law.
South Korea faces deepening political uncertainty, with the head of Mr. Yoon’s ruling party saying over the weekend that the president had been excluded from duties. Opposition groups said that Han Dong-hoon, the chairman of Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party, had no legal basis to exclude Mr. Yoon and accused him of making his own grab for power.
The constitutional crisis appeared to be paralyzing the country’s governance as it faces a raft of policy challenges abroad and at home, and has raised questions over the health of the country’s democracy.
The opposition has described Mr. Yoon as a mastermind of an insurrection plot by sending troops to the Parliament. If convicted, the leader of an insurrection would face the death penalty or life imprisonment.
The Justice Ministry’s travel ban order came as dissension has emerged in the ranks of the military who stormed the legislature during the few hours of martial law command.
Colonel Kim Hyun-tae, who led a special forces unit that was sent into the National Assembly, held a news conference Monday and told reporters that his troops were victims exploited by the defense minister.
Col. Kim said he received orders to forcibly remove lawmakers from the assembly chamber. His commanders appeared to be relaying orders from the defense minister, who said the troops needed to prevent 150 lawmakers — the threshold required to repeal martial law — from gathering in the assembly, he said.
Mr. Kim, the former defense minister, was taken into custody Sunday for questioning by prosecutors. He is also barred from leaving the country.
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