SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol was impeached on rebellion charges and arrested a month and a half after he briefly imposed martial law.

He is the country's first sitting president to be detained.

With Yoon in custody, investigators have turned a page on weeks of concerns about potential clashes between presidential security personnel and police following the issuance of a warrant for Yoon's arrest.

But the political chaos triggered by the declaration of martial law on December 3 is expected to continue, as Yoon and his ruling party supporters continue to shrug off accusations of rebellion.

Yin believes that the declaration of martial law is necessary because the opposition's "legislative dictatorship" has paralyzed state affairs and disrupted social order.

In a video message released after his detention, the president called the investigation and arrest warrant "unlawful" and said he agreed to cooperate with law enforcement only to prevent a violent confrontation.

The first attempt by the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) and police to detain Yoon failed after a five-hour standoff with the president's security detail on January 3. Chief prosecutor Oh Dong-woon later told the parliamentary judiciary committee that his staff did not expect "organized resistance" from armed security personnel and felt "psychological and physical pressure."

The chief information officer, who is leading a joint investigation into Yoon with police and the military, stepped up preparations ahead of the second attempt, mobilizing 3,000 riot police, 1,000 detectives and anti-corruption investigators for the pre-dawn operation. It also warned security personnel that they could also be arrested for obstructing official duties and would lose their jobs and pensions if found guilty.

After clearing away dozens of ruling party lawmakers who had blocked the gates of the presidential palace, police and investigators used ladders to climb over buses parked as barricades behind the gates.

Some officers attempted to enter from behind the home via a hiking trail.

Unlike the first attempt, no presidential security personnel were seen trying to impede law enforcement.

After more than two hours of negotiations between Yin Zheng's representatives and law enforcement agencies inside the presidential palace, the presidential motorcade left the presidential palace.

Demonstrators gather outside the presidential palace

When the CIO confirmed that Yoon had been detained, protesters who had been pressing for Yoon's arrest in the freezing cold erupted in cheers.

"I didn't live long, but this was the happiest time of my life," said Choi Haysu, a 20-year-old college student from the southeastern city of Busan. Choi said she arrived in the area the day before and spent the night on the street.

When Yoon declared martial law last month, Choi said she looked for the next day's protests and compared them to clashes between pro-democracy activists and militant police in the 1980s. “If the National Assembly fails to stop the martial law troops,” she said, “I fear the kind of violent repression that we see in the history books will happen.”

Young South Koreans born after the military dictatorship took an active part in recent protests calling for Yoon to step down. Many said they took South Korea's stable democracy for granted before martial law was declared.

"Most people live in constant anxiety, checking every morning to see if Yoon Seok-yeol was arrested overnight or if anything else happened," said 24-year-old Min So Won, who protested outside the presidential palace on Wednesday. ) explain.

in the most recent Gallup pollAmong South Korean respondents aged 18 to 29, 75% expressed support for impeachment of Yoon. Congress passed the impeachment motion on December 14, and the Constitutional Court began formal hearings this week to decide whether to formally remove him.

However, older Koreans are more sympathetic to Mr Yoon. In the same poll, 36% of people 70 or older supported impeachment.

Retired teacher Jeong Hyung-mok, 76, participated in an anti-impeachment protest also held outside the presidential palace on Wednesday. She said she feared the South Korean government would collapse if Yoon was impeached.

"The president is the pillar that supports our country and is the vanguard of liberal democracy," Zheng said, calling liberal opposition leaders "communists."

Speaking to reporters outside his official residence, Kim Ki-hyun, a lawmaker from the ruling People's Power Party, also said the country's liberal democracy and rule of law were under threat and reiterated Mr Yoon's claims about the illegality of the investigation.

But the court rejected objections to the detention order raised by Yoon's lawyers and supporters.

The CIO can detain the president for 48 hours for interrogation. The agency is then expected to apply for an arrest warrant, which would give the office and prosecutors up to 20 days to question him.