Yoon supporters scuffle with police, as South Korean court extends president’s detention

A South Korean court issued a warrant early on Sunday allowing for the extended detention of the country’s impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, as investigators probe his failed martial law bid.

Tens of thousands of Yoon’s backers had rallied outside the court on Saturday and scuffled with police as they chanted support for the suspended leader, who plunged South Korea into its worst political chaos in decades with his bid to suspend civilian rule.

The president’s December 3 martial law declaration lasted just six hours, with lawmakers voting it down despite him ordering soldiers to storm parliament to stop them. He was impeached soon after.

Yoon was detained in a dawn raid on Wednesday on insurrection charges after he refused investigators’ summons and went to ground in his residence, using his presidential security detail to resist arrest.

South Korea’s first sitting president to be detained, Yoon also declined to cooperate during the initial 48 hours detectives were allowed to hold him.

The disgraced leader, who attended court for the first time on Saturday over his case, will now remain in custody after investigators requested – and were granted – a new warrant to extend his detention.