Local time around 5:47 p.m. on the 8th, the suspended South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol ended his 52-day detention and was released from the Seoul Detention Center. He then took a police escort vehicle back to the presidential residence in Hannam-dong.
After being impeached by the National Assembly on December 14 last year, Yoon Suk-yeol was arrested on suspicion of inciting insurrection on January 15 this year, becoming the first South Korean president to be arrested during his term. During his detention, Yoon Suk-yeol attended the impeachment hearing at the Constitutional Court multiple times and also participated in the trial process of the insurrection case at the Seoul Central District Court.
On March 7, the Seoul Central District Court decided to accept Yoon Suk-yeol's request and lift his detention. The Prosecutor General's Office then held a meeting and finally decided not to file an appeal, implementing the court's ruling to release Yoon Suk-yeol. However, the Special Investigation Headquarters for Emergency Martial Law of the Prosecutor's Office in charge of the case had objections. It wasn't until around 5 p.m. on the 8th that it accepted the instructions from the Prosecutor General's Office and issued a release notice to the Seoul Detention Center.
After completing about 30 minutes of relevant procedures in the detention center, Yoon Suk-yeol took a car to the entrance of the detention center. He got out of the car, waved and bowed to the supporters who had been waiting for a long time, but didn't make a speech. Then he got back in the car and headed to the Hannam-dong residence. In a statement issued by his lawyer on his behalf, Yoon Suk-yeol thanked the court "for showing the courage and determination to correct illegal acts" and expressed his gratitude to his supporters and the leadership of the ruling party.
Before and after Yoon Suk-yeol's release, large-scale rallies were held in many places in Seoul, with supporters and opponents clearly divided. Those against the impeachment cheered and celebrated, shouting "We won", while those in support of the impeachment angrily demanded "re-detention".
Yoon Suk-yeol will continue to be tried in cases such as the impeachment case at the Constitutional Court in a non-detained state. Analysts in the South Korean legal community believe that the court's decision to lift Yoon Suk-yeol's detention is mainly based on the judgment of the dispute over the investigation power of the Investigation Office for Crimes Committed by High-ranking Public Officials (Gongdanbu) and the dispute over the prosecutor's overdue prosecution, and it won't have much impact on the trial of the impeachment case at the Constitutional Court. All sectors in South Korea expect that the Constitutional Court will hand down a verdict on the presidential impeachment case around the middle of this month.