South Korea President Yoon Is Detained for Questioning Over Martial Law

Yoon Suk Yeol became the first South Korean leader to be detained while in office, ending a tense standoff between his supporters and the authorities.

President Yoon Suk Yeol became the first sitting South Korean leader to be detained for questioning by criminal investigators on Wednesday, ending a weekslong standoff over his declaration of martial law that thrust the country into a political crisis.

Mr. Yoon’s security guards successfully blocked the investigators from detaining him on Jan. 3, when they made their first attempt to serve a court-issued detention warrant. Since then, the country has been gripped by fears that a violent clash might occur if both sides refused to back down.

But when the investigators returned on Wednesday morning with far more police officers, some of them carrying ladders to scale defensive barricades, Mr. Yoon’s bodyguards put up no obvious resistance. Mr. Yoon then struck a deal with massed law enforcement officials to go with them. He was not handcuffed and was allowed to travel to the investigators’ headquarters in a presidential motorcade, rather than in a police car.

In a video message released shortly afterward, Mr. Yoon said he agreed to submit to questioning in order to prevent a “bloody” clash between his bodyguards and the police. But he called the investigation and warrant to detain him illegal.

Mr. Yoon now faces questioning by officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, who are investigating whether he committed insurrection during his declaration of martial law on Dec. 3. The investigators can question him for 48 hours and then could apply for a separate court warrant to formally arrest him.

Mr. Yoon’s martial law decree last month was rapidly voted down by the National Assembly, and the opposition has since accused him of committing insurrection by sending armed troops into the Assembly to seize the legislature and to detain his political enemies. He was the first South Korean leader to place his country under military rule since the country began democratizing in the late 1980s.

The country’s Constitutional Court is deliberating whether the Assembly’s vote on Dec. 14 to impeach Mr. Yoon was legitimate and if he should be formally removed from office.

Police buses started arriving before dawn on Wednesday outside the hilltop presidential compound where Mr. Yoon has been holed up since his impeachment. The investigators had planned the raid in detail and boosted their ranks to avoid a repeat of the standoff that occurred on Jan. 3, when they were outnumbered by presidential security agents and had to beat an embarrassing retreat after a standoff that lasted five and a half hours.

Since then, his security guards had further fortified the compound by deploying more buses and razor wire to block gates and walls. Mr. Yoon vowed to “fight to the end” to return to office and said he wouldn’t surrender to a court warrant that he considers illegal.

On Wednesday morning, with Mr. Yoon’s lawyers, lawmakers from his party and personnel from the Presidential Security Service standing outside the compound gates, it appeared that he and his supporters were gearing up to resist the renewed effort for his detention. Live footage of the street leading up to his compound in the morning showed a tense standoff in below-freezing temperatures, with some shoving and physical struggles at one point.

Scores of investigators and police officers, who had gathered at the main gate of Mr. Yoon’s residence, carried ladders to clamber over barricades of buses that blocked the road. They reached the entrance to Mr. Yoon’s residence, where they held discussions with the president’s security guards and lawyers.

Who’s Investigating South Korea’s President?

A visual guide to the multiple government agencies that are investigating whether President Yoon Suk Yeol committed insurrection.

South Korea’s acting president, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, warned government agencies involved in the standoff against violence.

“All the people and the international community are watching this,” he said in a statement. “We cannot tolerate physical violence for any purposes because it will irreparably damage the trust of the people and our international reputation.”

Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer who ​serves as Mr. Yoon’s spokesman, said that the president would present himself for questioning if the investigators withdrew. But the investigators were determined to serve the warrant, and detained him at 10:33 a.m.

Mr. Yoon left his compound in the motorcade bound for the C.I.O.’s headquarters in Gwacheon, a city just south of Seoul. There he was taken to a third-floor room where he was expected to face a marathon session of interrogation.

The effort to take in Mr. Yoon and force him to answer to accusations of insurrection is the first time in South Korean history that the authorities have tried to detain a sitting president. The unfolding events have gripped the country, with news and social media channels livestreaming coverage.

A day before, the Constitutional Court began a hearing on whether to unseat Mr. Yoon, who did not show up for the proceedings. His lawyers said he feared the investigators would detain him if he left his presidential compound. The court is scheduled to convene again on Thursday.