South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will be released from jail after a court accepted his request to cancel his detention. The ruling comes 40 days after Yoon was arrested in mid-January on insurrection charges for his short-lived martial law decree in December.
The Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 25, presided over by Judge Ji Gui-yeon, accepted Yoon’s request to cancel his detention on Mar. 7. Under Korean law, detention can be revoked if the legal grounds for holding a defendant is no longer valid. The court ruled that prosecutors had improperly indicted Yoon after detaining him longer than legally allowed.
Legal experts say the ruling could have broader implications for the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO)‘s investigation into Yoon’s case. “The court’s decision effectively acknowledges the CIO’s unlawful investigation procedure, from Yoon’s initial arrest and custody transfer to the timing of his indictment,” said a source familiar with the matter.
Yoon filed a request to cancel his detention with Seoul Central District Court early last month, claiming his indictment over the Dec. 3 martial law incident was invalid. Yoon’s lawyers argued that his detention should be revoked as his indictment came after his maximum detention period expired on Jan. 25.
The CIO arrested Yoon at 10:33 a.m. on Jan. 15, and a detention warrant was issued four days later, on Jan. 19. After taking over the case from the CIO, the prosecution formally indicted Yoon on Jan. 26.
Yoon’s legal team asserted that the prosecution had exceeded the 11-day detention limit. Considering the time taken for the pre-arrest review (10 hours and 30 minutes) and the detention warrant hearing (33 hours), they argued that Yoon’s detention period—43 hours and 30 minutes—expired at midnight on Jan. 25.
The prosecution countered that detention periods should be calculated by full calendar days rather than by the hour. Prosecutors claimed that since Yoon’s warrant review spanned three days from Jan. 17-19, the detention period should be extended to Jan. 27, making the indictment valid.
After hearing arguments from both sides in a hearing on Feb. 20, the court ruled in favor of Yoon’s defense. “The detention period should be measured in actual hours, not full calendar days,” the ruling stated.
Yoon, who is currently held at the Seoul Detention Center, is expected to be released soon. Prosecutors have a week to appeal the ruling. If they choose not to appeal, they will send a release order to the Seoul Detention Center, upon which Yoon will be released immediately.
