South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has been charged with insurrection after he attempted to declare martial law in December last year.

His ill-fated attempt to impose military rule plunged the country into an unprecedented political crisis and he becomes the first sitting president in South Korean history to be charged with a crime.

The indictment comes after a court in Seoul rejected a request to extend Yoon’s detention on Saturday, which meant prosecutors had to make a decision on whether to charge or release him before today Monday.

In South Korea, insurrection is punishable by life in prison or death. However the latter is unlikely, given that the country has not carried out executions in decades.

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