South Korea Corruption Investigation Office, CIO has released from its detention the impeached President of the Asia country, Yoon Suk Yeol who was arrested and detained since January 2025 over the six hours of martial law he declared, which on Friday, the Seoul Central District Court faulted the legality of the impeached President arrest and ordered his release immediately.

CIO decided not to file an appeal to challenge the decision of the District Court and released the impeached President, Yoon Suk Yeol, who walked a little distance   to outside the exit gate of the detention facility, waving at thousands of his supporters who gathered at the holding facility ahead of his release on Saturday.

Yoon has been in detention since being arrested in January on charges of leading an insurrection – one of the few criminal charges the president, according to local observers does not have immunity from.

The Seoul District Court in its ruling on Friday,  said it was questionable whether the insurrection charges indictment was filed after the defendant’s detention period had expired.

Therefore, the court  canceled Yoon’s arrest warrant to “ensure procedural clarity and eliminate doubts regarding the legality of the investigation process, according to the Court.

Yoon’s lawyers had also argued that the crime of insurrection is not included within the investigative jurisdiction of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) – the agency that had requested the arrest warrant against the leader.

The court said the question of jurisdiction was unclear, as there are no provisions in current laws about this issue, and no previous ruling from the Supreme Court.

Any further unresolved “legal controversies” during the criminal trial could “serve as grounds for annulment in a higher court and may also provide grounds for a retrial even after a significant amount of time has passed,” the COURT added, according to the certified true copy of the judgement as reported by CNN.

The ruling did not dismiss the criminal charges that led to Yoon’s arrest on January 15, and the case is separate from his impeachment, which is still pending before the Constitutional Court.

The Criminal charge of insurrection and the impeachment case before the South Korea Constitutional Court were triggered by his December 3 martial law declaration that also led to the impeachment of the prime minister, who had taken over as acting president and refused to authorize the arrest of the suspended President.

South Korea’s Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok is now acting head of state, and has sought to calm economic markets and reassure international partners amid chaos in government leadership.

He was seen bowing to cheering supporters, who were waving Korean and US flags, as he walked out of the detention center in Uiwang on Saturday, according to International news agency.

“I would also like to express my deep gratitude to the many citizens who have supported me despite the cold weather, as well as to our future generations,” Yoon said in a statement following his release.

Lawmakers had voted to impeach him and he is now waiting for the country’s Constitutional Court to decide whether he will be removed from office permanently or be reinstated.

His release means that Yoon can now await the impeachment verdict, expected to come in coming weeks, from home instead of in detention.

South Korea’s main opposition party leader Lee Jae-myung said Friday that the court ruling does not clear Yoon of allegations he “destroyed the constitutional order through an unconstitutional military coup.

We had reported that the impeached President of South Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol around noon on Wednesday, according to the Asia country local time, surrendered himself for arrest to the Corruption Investigation Office for High Ranking Officials, CIO after the CIO led over 3,000 policemen to invade the residence of the impeached president early morning night at about 1am on Wednesday, breaking barriers mounted by over 200 personnel of Presidential Security Service, PSS who have shielded him from arrest since he was impeached by the country’s Parliament over short-lived martial law he declared in December, 2024.

We had earlier reported that there are indications that the criminal investigators in South Korea have mobilized over 2,000 police to wear down or overcome the men of the Presidential Security Service, PSS currently protecting the country’s impeached President, Yoon Suk Yeol from being arrested after Court re-issued order of arrest on Tuesday when the previous court order expired with failed attempt by the criminal investigators to carry out the arrest order last week due to stand off mounted by heavily armed PSS.