South Korean president prohibited from leaving country

International

AFTER briefly imposing martial law, South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol is banned from traveling abroad, the justice ministry confirmed.

Yoon became the first sitting South Korean president to be banned from foreign travel.

Because of the short-lived martial law that he declared, Yoon became the subject of an investigation for alleged treason and other charges.

While Yoon apologized for his actions which stemmed from what he called “anti-state forces,” a growing number of his countrymen wanted him to be ousted.

According to a Reuters report, even if Yoon is still the commander-in-chief in the country’s defense ministry, there’s a growing dissent among top military officials against him, putting his power on the losing end.

Though Yoon was able to survive the attempt to impeach him on Saturday after the governing party lawmakers boycotted a parliamentary vote, the opposition lawmakers are planning to file another impeachment case against him.

Bae Sang-up, a Justice Ministry official, said the order to ban Yoon from leaving the country comes after the requests of police, prosecutors, and an anti-corruption agency as they are expanding their investigation into Yoon’s alleged power seizure, a report by AP News stated.

The same report said that in South Korea, the President is immune from prosecution while currently serving, but this does not apply to rebellion or treason allegations, which means Yoon can still be questioned and put into custody by police over his martial law imposition.

Aside from Yoon, other personalities who are now under travel bans due to their roles in last week’s martial law declaration of the President are former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun and ex-interior minister Lee Sang-min.(LAO)