South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested Wednesday by the country's corruption investigation unit for senior officials, a primary for a sitting South Korean leader.

This was the second try to arrest the accused president, following a failed attempt on January 3 when agents from South Korea's presidential security service blocked investigators from entering Yoon's residence.

Unlike the primary attempt, “this time no people or security forces actively prevented the execution and there were no significant physical clashes,” the CIO said.

About 3,000 police were involved within the second try to secure access to Yoon's compound, Yonhap news agency said.

Also South Korean media Yoon reported in a pre-recorded video said that “the law of the land has collapsed” and called the CIO’s investigation “illegal.” According to a Google translation of the reports in Korean, Yoon said he would seem before the CIO to “prevent unpleasant bloodshed.”

South Korean stocks reacted mutedly to the news, as did the blue chip Kospi rose 0.21% and the small-cap Kosdaq lost 0.44%.

The won weakened barely against the US dollar and was last quoted at 1,459.75. The yield on South Korea's 10-year benchmark bonds also rose.

The CIO originally requested the arrest warrant after Yoon failed to seem for questioning, which was granted by a Seoul district court on December 31. The warrant was then prolonged after originally expiring on January sixth.

Yoon may face rebellion charges following his short-lived declaration of martial law on December 3, a charge that shouldn’t be subject to presidential immunity and carries the utmost death penalty.

Yoon made a surprise late-night broadcast last month and declared martial law, citing the necessity to protect the country from “North Korean communist forces” and “anti-state forces.” This was the primary time martial law was declared in South Korea in over 40 years.

Lawmakers then managed to beat police barricades and reject the statement within the country's parliament before filing impeachment proceedings against Yoon just a few days later. Yoon was charged and suspended from office on December 14.

South Korea's Constitutional Court has opened the impeachment proceedings on January 14th against Yoon, but was postponed to January sixteenth after Yoon failed to point out up.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached in a vote on Saturday following his temporarily failed try to impose martial law in early December.

A presidential election have to be held inside 60 days if the incumbent is dismissed or resigns.

In the vote, 204 voted for impeachment, 85 voted against; With three abstentions and eight votes, the vote was declared invalid. NBC News reported. A two-thirds majority was required for the vote.

According to NBC News, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will function acting president after the vote after Yoon was suspended from his public positions.

“I will do my best for stable governance of our country,” he said after the vote, NBC News reported, noting that Han might also face charges for his alleged role in Yoon's declaration of martial law.

An earlier impeachment motion on Dec. 7 didn’t receive the required majority of 200 out of 300 votes in South Korea's National Assembly after allied lawmakers in Yoon's People Power Party resigned before the show of hands. The tide has now turned: PPP leader Han Dong-hoon appeared on Thursday to support a parliamentary vote to question Yoon and called for an ethics commission to debate his departure from the party. in accordance with South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.

The motion was initiated by opposition lawmakers after Yoon briefly declared martial law on December 3 for the primary time for the reason that 1979 military coup, citing the necessity to “protect the constitutional order based on freedom and root out shameful pro-North Korean anti-states.” . Groups that steal our people’s freedom and happiness,” in accordance with NBC News. The measure, which was repealed inside six hours, raised questions on the likelihood that Yoon might attempt to impose martial law nationwide a second time.

The president has faced a series of scandals since taking office for a single term in 2022 – lots of which centered on his wife, businesswoman Kim Keon Hee. His approval rating fell to 17.3% In the times for the reason that Dec. 3 incident, Yoon, who initially said he was putting his fate in his party's hands, has steadfastly resisted mounting calls for his resignation from opposition lawmakers and peaceful protesters. He was banned from leaving the country.

Yoon isn’t the primary South Korean president for the reason that turn of the century to face an impeachment vote. Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye were deposed because of this of such proceedings in 2004 and 2016, respectively.

On Thursday, Yoon gave a protracted, defiant national address by which he vowed to “fight to the end” and “stand firm.” NBC News reported.

“The opposition parties are currently in turmoil, claiming that declaring martial law would be tantamount to an insurrection,” Yoon said. “Is what they claim true?”

The political unrest initially rattled markets and raised concerns in regards to the democratic stability of Asia's fourth-largest economy – but John Woods, chief investment officer at Lombard Odier, said South Korean observers were now “looking past this crisis” and focusing back on local profits concentrate.

“Certainly there is an endgame, I think, in sight, and there's no doubt that it will come to an end in the first quarter or so of next year,” Woods told CNBC's Tanvir Gill on Thursday. “This volatility in the political context is something we have to take very seriously. But certainly the general value of it is.” [South] Korea as a proxy AI can be something we cannot overlook.”

Technology, chips and the booming AI industry play a central role in South Korea's economy, in accordance with the International Monetary Fund Forecasts will grow by 2.5% this 12 months.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has accepted Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's resignation and appointed his ambassador to Saudi Arabia Choi Byung-hyuk as the brand new defense minister, Yonhap News reported on Thursday.

Yoon's office confirmed the nomination of Choi, a former army general, for the post.

Yoon's chief of staff Chung Jin-suk described Choi as “a principled person who carries out his duties with dedication and follows regulations,” Yonhap reported.

Kim is claimed to have advised Yoon on Tuesday to declare martial law, which was lifted after a parliamentary vote through which Yoon called for it to be lifted.

The nomination is Yoon's first official move after he announced the withdrawal of the martial law declaration within the early hours of Wednesday amid a storm of political unrest and diplomatic spats.

Parliament moved a motion early Thursday to question him over the failed try to impose martial law, but his party vowed to oppose the move, throwing the proceedings into query.

The most important opposition Democratic Party called Yoon's try to declare martial law a treasonous act and its lawmakers could launch a vote on the bill as early as Friday.

U.S. officials said they were caught off guard by Yoon's declaration of martial law, which Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said was “severely misjudged.”