Seoul, Dec 17 || South Korea's Army Chief of Staff Gen. Park An-su, who served as the chief commander during President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law, was arrested on Tuesday, prosecutors said.
Park was arrested on a court-issued warrant on charges of playing a key role in an insurrection and abuse of power.
He became the fifth key figure who was arrested over Yoon's December 3 failed bid to impose martial law.
So far, former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun, Lt Gen Yeo In-hyung, head of the Defence Counterintelligence Command, Lt Gen Kwak Jong-keun, head of the Army Special Warfare Command, and Lt Gen Lee Jin-woo, head of the Capital Defence Command, have been arrested.
On December 9, South Korean prosecutors investigating alleged treason following President Yoon's short-lived martial law imposition questioned Gen Park, who had been named to lead the martial law command.
Park was grilled by prosecutors as a witness at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office for about eight hours from 6 p.m. Sunday to 2 a.m. on December 9.
Prosecutors have called in Park and other military leaders who were under the command of former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun during martial law enforcement on December 3 before planning to request an arrest warrant for Kim on treason and abuse of power charges.
Kim, who was put under emergency detention on December 6, was a central figure in Yoon's abrupt martial law declaration that lasted six hours before being withdrawn due to a National Assembly vote against it.