Past 46 days of Yoon

[Anchor]

President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared emergency martial law, is now at a crossroads of being arrested on charges of being the leader of a rebellion after 46 days.

This marks the first time in constitutional history that an arrest warrant is being executed against a sitting president, and requests for detention warrants are following one after another.

Reporter Lee Seung-cheol looks back on the past 46 days.

[Report]

[President Yoon Suk Yeol/Dec. 3: "To eradicate the pro-North Korea anti-state forces at once and to protect the free constitutional order, I declare emergency martial law."]

The emergency martial law was halted after just two and a half hours.

The police controlled access to the National Assembly, and soldiers even stormed the main building of the National Assembly, but 190 lawmakers from both the ruling and opposition parties passed a resolution demanding the lifting of the martial law.

[Woo Won-shik/Speaker of the National Assembly/Dec. 4: "According to the resolution of the National Assembly, the president must immediately lift the emergency martial law. The declaration of emergency martial law is now null and void."]

Immediately after, opposition parties and civic groups filed complaints against President Yoon Suk Yeol for charges of being the leader of a rebellion, and the prosecution and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials began investigations in earnest.

[Park Se-hyun/Head of the Special Investigation Department/Dec. 8: "We will do our utmost to ensure that no suspicions remain regarding this major national incident."]

[Lee Jae-seung/Deputy Chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials/Dec. 9: "We will conduct a strict investigation regardless of status or position, making every effort."]

From this point on, unprecedented events in the constitutional history of South Korea followed.

The Ministry of Justice publicly announced a travel ban on President Yoon, the first time for a sitting president, and President Yoon responded to five summons requests from the prosecution and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials by not attending.

Eventually, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials requested an arrest warrant for the sitting president, and the court issued the warrant.

Although the Security Office initially blocked the execution of the warrant by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the police, they secured the president's custody for the first time in constitutional history on their second attempt.

On the first day of his arrest, President Yoon was interrogated for 10 hours and 40 minutes but refused to make a statement. The next day, he did not attend the detention review held at the Seoul Central District Court and refused to appear for questioning by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, then ultimately attended the detention hearing.

This is Lee Seung-cheol from KBS News.