South Korea’s former president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has been arrested for a second time and returned to a solitary jail cell over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law last December.
Yoon’s detention on Thursday came after a court in the South Korean capital, Seoul, ordered his arrest, citing concerns the former leader could seek to destroy evidence.
The 64-year-old politician, who is on trial for insurrection, is being held at the Seoul Detention Center, where he spent 52 days earlier in the year before being released four months ago on technical grounds.
Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian government on December 3, sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration of martial law.
He became South Korea’s first sitting president to be taken into custody when he was detained in a dawn raid in January, after spending weeks resisting arrest, using his presidential security detail to head off investigators.
But he was released on procedural grounds in March.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court then removed Yoon from office in April, paving the way for a snap election, which was held in June.
The country’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, approved legislation launching sweeping special investigations into Yoon’s push for martial law and various criminal accusations tied to his administration and wife.
Earlier this month, the special counsel questioned Yoon about his resistance during a failed arrest attempt in January, as well as accusations that he authorised drone flights to Pyongyang to help justify declaring martial law.