Criminal investigators armed with a court-issued warrant prepared a second, much-anticipated operation early Wednesday to detain President Yoon Suk Yeol for questioning in connection with insurrection charges that stem from his short-lived imposition of martial law last month. Police buses began massing before dawn outside the hilltop presidential compound where Mr. Yoon has been holed […]

The Constitutional Court of South Korea began formal deliberations on Tuesday to decide whether to unseat President Yoon Suk Yeol. The impeached leader stayed away, holed up in his fortified presidential compound where he is bracing himself for what his aides called a “siege attack” from up to 1,000 criminal investigators planning to detain him […]

For six weeks, South Korea has lurched through its worst political crisis in decades, throwing the resilience of the country’s democracy into question. On Tuesday, it takes the biggest step toward a resolution, when the Constitutional Court begins deliberating whether to remove or reinstate the country’s impeached president. The eight justices on the court will […]

South Korea’s Presidential Security Service, a​n agency​ assigned to protect the president, prides itself on being the “last bastion for a safe and stable state administration.” It is now at the heart of South Korea’s biggest political mess in decades, acting as a final line of defense to prevent criminal investigators from detaining President Yoon […]

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and the foreign minister of South Korea, Cho Tae-yul, both acknowledged the challenges to democracy in their nations on Monday while asserting that the alliance between the countries remained strong despite ongoing political turmoil. “Our relationship is bigger than any one leader, any one government, any one party,” Mr. […]

Every day​ for the past week, Kim Kwon-seop, 72, has joined thousands of others gathered near the home of South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol​. They were determined to shield Mr. Yoon from prosecutors who wanted to detain him on insurrection charges stemming from his short-lived declaration of martial law last month. To them, […]

When around 100 criminal investigators and police officers entered a hilly compound in central Seoul on Friday morning, they tried to achieve something that has never been done before in South Korea: detain a sitting president. First, they made it through two blockades formed by parked vehicles and people. Then, when they came within 650 […]