dpa
Seoul
A South Korean court issued a warrant to keep suspended South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol in custody for briefly imposing martial law in December, the official Yonhap news agency reported on Sunday.
The district court in the capital Seoul issued a warrant for Yoon’s arrest, which means that investigators can now keep him in pre-trial detention for up to 20 days starting from Wednesday, when he was detained and remanded in custody, Yonhap reported.
On December 3, Yoon briefly declared martial law during a budget dispute with the opposition.
In mid-December, lawmakers removed him from office until further notice on charges of abuse of power and sedition. Yoon has defended his decision by stating that he had declared martial law to protect the nation from "anti-state forces” - meaning his political
opponents.