SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s liberal-led legislature overwhelmingly passed bills Thursday to launch special investigations into former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived imposition of martial law in December and criminal allegations against his wife, targeting the ousted conservative a day after his liberal successor took office.
The National Assembly also passed a bill to initiate an independent investigation into the 2023 drowning death of a marine during a search-and-rescue operation for flood victims, an incident the Democratic Party, which holds majority, accuses Yoon’s government of covering up.
The bills previously had been vetoed by Yoon during his term and by South Korea’s caretaker government after his Dec. 14 impeachment.
President Lee Jae-myung, a Democrat who won Tuesday’s snap election triggered by Yoon’s removal from office, is expected to sign the bills.
Many members of the conservative People Power Party refused to participate in the votes, which took place after one of the party’s lawmakers accused the liberals of being driven by vendetta.
Kim Yong-min, a Democratic Party lawmaker, said the conservatives were effectively defending Yoon’s imposition of martial law by repeatedly opposing investigations into it.
“That’s why they failed to win public support and were rejected by voters in the presidential election,” he said in a speech.
Lee, who drove the legislative efforts to impeach Yoon, pinned his presidential campaign on unity, promising not to target conservatives and calling for an end to political polarization.
Yet Lee has vowed a full investigation into Yoon’s martial law imposition and the allegations surrounding his wife, moves that could overshadow the new government and inflame tensions as Yoon faces a high-stakes rebellion trial carrying a possible death sentence.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office has indicted Yoon on charges accusing Yoon of masterminding a rebellion and enacting martial law as an illegal bid to seize the legislature and election offices and arrest political opponents.
Liberals have insisted independent investigations into Yoon are essential, saying probes by prosecutors, police and an anti-corruption agency were inadequate and hampered by Yoon’s refusal to cooperate. If Lee approves the independent investigations, special prosecutors could request the transfer of relevant cases to expand those investigations or direct public or military prosecutors to continue handling them under their supervision.
The bills calling for independent investigations into Yoon’s martial law decree and criminal allegations involving his wife both passed by a vote of 194 to 3.
Dozens of retired marines, dressed in red shirts, saluted and cheered from an observation box after lawmakers passed the bill for a special prosecutor investigation into the marine’s death, which also passed 194 to 3.
Martial law lasted only a few hours after a quorum of lawmakers pushed past a blockade of hundreds of heavily armed soldiers and voted to revoke the measure. Yoon defended the move as a necessary act of governance, accusing the Democrats, whom he labeled “anti-state forces,” of abusing their majority to obstruct his agenda and paralyze state affairs.
That same majority now gives Lee a far more favorable path to advance his agenda, though conservatives claim it could grant him virtually unchecked power and allow him to pass laws that shield him from legal trouble.
Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon Hee, also faces multiple corruption allegations, including claims that she received luxury items from a Unification Church official seeking business favors, as well as possible involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme. She also is suspected of interfering with PPP’s candidate nominations ahead of legislative elections in April last year.
While in office, Yoon repeatedly dismissed calls to investigate his wife, denouncing them as baseless political attacks.
FILE - South Korea's newly-elected President Lee Jae-myung takes his oath during his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul, on June 4, 2025. (Anthony Wallace/Pool Photo via AP, File)
FILE - Then-South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool, File)
South Korean lawmakers pass a bill to launch special investigations into former President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law in December, at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (Park Dong-joo/Yonhap via AP)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
