South Korea s President Yoon freed after 52 days in detention

SEOUL – Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was released from detention on March 8 after a court voided his arrest on procedural grounds – but he remains under investigation over his declaration of martial law.

The suspended President, who was detained in a dawn raid in January on insurrection charges over his Dec 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,” he said in a statement released through his lawyers.

A day earlier, a court had cancelled his arrest warrant on technical and legal grounds – a decision that prosecutors probing Mr Yoon said in a statement on March 8 was “unjust”.

He was freed after the prosecutors waived their right to appeal against the court verdict, which was specifically about technical details of his detention on criminal charges.

He also faces a separate Constitutional Court ruling on whether to uphold his impeachment and formally strip him of office, with the judges’ decision expected any day.

Prosecutors said that “given the Constitutional Court’s ruling and related considerations, the prosecutor-general has instructed the team to actively present its arguments before the trial court instead” of appealing against Mr Yoon’s release from detention.

South Korea must hold a fresh presidential election within 60 days if Mr Yoon is removed.

The criminal case against him will continue even if he is formally stripped of office.

“Because Yoon’s release is related to the procedural aspects of his detention, it will have no bearing on the Constitutional Court’s deliberation on his impeachment,” said Mr Yoo Jung-hoon, a lawyer and political columnist.

“However, with social confusion and strife among Yoon’s supporters and protesters intensifying due to his