SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s jailed ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol again refused to attend questioning by investigators Friday, using a new method to resist: He took off his prison uniform and lay down on the floor at his detention room.
Yoon, removed from office in April over his ill-fated imposition of martial law, was sent back to prison last month as he stands a high-stakes trial over rebellion and other charges. Yoon, a conservative, faces investigations into other criminal allegations that are not related to his Dec. 3 martial law decree but target him, his wife and others.
On Friday, Min Joong-ki, a special counsel named by his liberal rival and new President Lee Jae Myung, sent investigators to retrieve Yoon from a detention center near Seoul after the former president twice defied requests to attend questioning. Min's team is tasked with delving into allegations surrounding Yoon's wife Kim Keon Hee, including that she and her husband exerted inappropriate influence on the then-ruling party's election nomination process in 2022.
Min's team had a court-issued detention warrant that authorized them to bring Yoon out of his detention facility by force, but said they were hoping for his voluntary cooperation.
“Without wearing his prison uniform, the suspect lay down on the floor and strongly resisted his detention,” assistant special counsel Oh Jeong-hee told a televised briefing.
Justice Minister Jung Sung-ho separately told lawmakers that Yoon took off his shorts and short-sleeved shirt and put them back on after investigators left.
Oh said her team members refrained from using physical means out of safety concerns, but notified Yoon that they would execute the warrant next time. She urged Yoon to cooperate as the Korean people are closely watching whether the enforcement of law is applied to everyone equally.
Yu Jeong-hwa, a lawyer for Yoon, accused the special counsel team of trampling on Yoon’s dignity and honor by discussing his dress in prison, according to local media reports.
Yoon's defense team earlier said Yoon was unable to attend his trial and undergo questioning by investigators because of heath problems. They said in a statement Thursday that Yoon has cardiovascular, autonomic nervous system and eye issues. They cited an unidentified hospital as saying that Yoon faces the risk of blindness because he failed to receive medical treatment for the past three months.
Yoon's imposition of martial law, which brought armed troops into Seoul streets, lasted only several hours before lawmakers voted down his decree unanimously.
Yoon has argued his decree was a desperate attempt to draw public support of his fight against the “wickedness” of Lee's Democratic Party, then the main opposition party which had obstructed his agenda, impeached top officials and slashed the government’s proposed budget.
FILE - Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, arrives at a court to attend a hearing to review his arrest warrant requested by special prosecutors in Seoul, South Korea, July 9, 2025. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP, File)
The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss Iran's deadly protests at the request of the United States, even as President Donald Trump left unclear what actions he would take against the Islamic state.
Tehran appeared to make conciliatory statements in an effort to defuse the situation after Trump threatened to take action to stop further killing of protesters, including the execution of anyone detained in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.
Iran’s crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,615, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. The death toll exceeds any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for hours without explanation early Thursday and some personnel at a key U.S. military base in Qatar were advised to evacuate. The U.S. Embassy in Kuwait also ordered its personnel to “temporary halt” travel to the multiple military bases in the small Gulf Arab country.
Iran previously closed its airspace during the 12-day war against Israel in June.
Here is the latest:
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has spoken with his counterpart in Iran, who said the situation was “now stable,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Abbas Araghchi said “he hoped China will play a greater role in regional peace and stability” during the talks, according to the statement from the ministry.
“China opposes imposing its will on other countries, and opposes a return to the ‘law of the jungle’,” Wang said.
“China believes that the Iranian government and people will unite, overcome difficulties, maintain national stability, and safeguard their legitimate rights and interests,” he added. “China hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue. China is willing to play a constructive role in this regard.”
“We are against military intervention in Iran,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told journalists in Istanbul on Thursday. “Iran must address its own internal problems… They must address their problems with the region and in global terms through diplomacy so that certain structural problems that cause economic problems can be addressed.”
Ankara and Tehran enjoy warm relations despite often holding divergent interests in the region.
Fidan said the unrest in Iran was rooted in economic conditions caused by sanctions, rather than ideological opposition to the government.
Iranians have been largely absent from an annual pilgrimage to Baghdad, Iraq, to commemorate the death of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, one of the twelve Shiite imams.
Many Iranian pilgrims typically make the journey every year for the annual religious rituals.
Streets across Baghdad were crowded with pilgrims Thursday. Most had arrived on foot from central and southern provinces of Iraq, heading toward the shrine of Imam al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district in northern Baghdad,
Adel Zaidan, who owns a hotel near the shrine, said the number of Iranian visitors this year compared to previous years was very small. Other residents agreed.
“This visit is different from previous ones. It lacks the large numbers of Iranian pilgrims, especially in terms of providing food and accommodation,” said Haider Al-Obaidi.
Europe’s largest airline group said Thursday it would halt night flights to and from Tel Aviv and Jordan's capital Amman for five days, citing security concerns as fears grow that unrest in Iran could spiral into wider regional violence.
Lufthansa — which operates Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings — said flights would run only during daytime hours from Thursday through Monday “due to the current situation in the Middle East.” It said the change would ensure its staff — which includes unionized cabin crews and pilots -- would not be required to stay overnight in the region.
The airline group also said its planes would bypass Iranian and Iraqi airspace, key corridors for air travel between the Middle East and Asia.
Iran closed its airspace to commercial flights for several hours early Thursday without explanation.
A spokesperson for Israel’s Airport Authority, which oversees Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, said the airport was operating as usual.
Iranian state media has denied claims that a young man arrested during Iran’s recent protests was condemned to death. The statement from Iran’s judicial authorities on Thursday contradicted what it said were “opposition media abroad” which claimed the young man had been quickly sentenced to death during a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the country.
State television didn’t immediately give any details beyond his name, Erfan Soltani. Iranian judicial authorities said Soltani was being held in a detention facility outside of the capital. Alongside other protesters, he has been accused of “propaganda activities against the regime,” state media said.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Thursday that his government was “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression” in Iran.
“We condemn the brutal crackdown being carried out by Iran’s security forces, including the killing of protesters,” Peters posted on X.
“Iranians have the right to peaceful protest, freedom of expression, and access to information – and that right is currently being brutally repressed,” he said.
Peters said his government had expressed serious concerns to the Iranian Embassy in Wellington.
A demonstrator lights a cigarette with a burning poster depicting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a rally in support of Iran's anti-government protests, in Holon, Israel, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Protesters participate in a demonstration in support of the nationwide mass protests in Iran against the government, in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
