President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was indicted on charges of rebellion in connection with the emergency martial law on December 3, was banned from leaving the country on December 9. This is the first time in the country's constitutional history that a sitting president has been banned from leaving the country. Prosecutors raided the Defense Counterintelligence Command (DCC), which planned the emergency martial law in advance and executed it. A number of military officers involved in martial law were also summoned. Police said they are “in the process of reviewing” the possibility of Yoon's emergency arrest. There is speculation that Yoon could be directly investigated, either by summoning him for questioning or arresting him, as early as this week.

“We applied for an exit ban on Yoon in connection with the martial law case and received a reply from the Ministry of Justice, which is in charge of it, saying that it had 'approved the request,'” the Corrupt Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) said. It reportedly applied for the travel ban around 3 p.m., and the Justice Ministry approved it within 30 minutes. Three investigative agencies of prosecutors, police, and the CIO also applied for travel bans against former Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min.

This is the first time a sitting president has been banned from leaving the country. Former President Park Geun-hye was considered for a travel ban by a special prosecution team after the National Assembly passed an impeachment bill, but it was never enacted.

The Special Investigation Headquarters of the prosecution, which is headed by chief of the Seoul High Prosecutors’Office Park Se-hyun, is investigating the case, and it raidedDCC. The raids reportedly included the offices and official residences of counterintelligence officers and former commander of the DCC Yeo In-hyung in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.

The DCC has been found to have played a key role in the incident of the emergency martial law. They were found to have prepared for martial law in advance, including writing a martial law-related document, “Reference on the Operation of the Command and Joint Investigation Headquarters,” last month.

Yeo, a former commander who went to the same high school (Chungam High School) as President Yoon, is suspected of planning the emergency martial law. He is suspected of playing a leading role in drafting the martial law decree No. 1, deploying troops to the National Assembly and the NationalElection Commission, and operating arrest squads for key politicians, including Han Dong-hoon of the People Power Party and Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea. The Prosecution’s Special Investigation Headquarters notified Yeo that he should appear for questioning on December 10.

The prosecution followed up the previous day's emergency arrest of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun by summoning witnesses from the military. Chung Jin-pal, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Kwak Jong-geun, a former commander of the Special Forces Command, were among those subpoenaed.

On the same day, police notified former Minister Lee Sang-min, former commander of the DCC Yeo In-hyung, and former commander of the Capital Defense Command Lee Jin-woo to attend the investigation. It also announced its intention to directly investigate President Yoon. When asked if President Yoon can also be investigated at a press conference on the same day, Woo Jong-soo, head of the National Investigation Headquarters for Emergency Martial Law (National Police Agency's National Investigation Division),replied that “there are no human or physical restrictions on the investigation. We will mobilize all available resources to investigate without any suspicion based solely on laws and principles.” An official from the special task force said, “It's not impossible, but we must first review whether the case meets the requirements for an emergency arrest.”

As the three investigative agencies have jumped into the same case, the investigation is gaining momentum. There are observations inside and outside the prosecution, police, and the CIO that a direct investigation into Yoon could be launched as soon as this week. “Once the records, testimonies, and statements of government and military officials from the day of the emergency martial law are collected, the investigation plan against Yoon is expected to be decided,” said prosecution and police officials.