Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol was released from detention on Saturday after a court voided his arrest on procedural grounds – but he remains under investigation over his declaration of martial law.
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The suspended president, who was detained in a dawn raid in January on insurrection charges over his December 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, walked out of the detention centre smiling, before bowing deeply before a small crowd of cheering supporters.
“I bow my head in gratitude to the people of this nation,” Yoon said in a statement released through his lawyers.
A court had cancelled his arrest warrant a day earlier on technical and legal grounds – a decision that prosecutors investigating Yoon called “unjust”.
Yoon was freed after the prosecutors waived their right to appeal the court verdict, which specifically concerned technical details of his detention on criminal charges.
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Yoon also faces a separate Constitutional Court ruling on whether to uphold his impeachment and formally strip him from office, with the judges’ decision expected any day.