Just after his release following 52 days in prison, South Korea's conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, returned to his presidential residence in Hannam-dong, in the heart of Seoul, on Saturday, March 8, where some 2,000 supporters had gathered. "I would like to express my gratitude for the courage and determination of the Seoul Central District Court judges," he declared, expressing his "gratitude to the people of this nation."

Freed on a technicality, the president nonetheless awaits the Constitutional Court's decision on the impeachment motion passed by the National Assembly to sanction his declaration of martial law. Yoon remains under investigation. He will appear free at his criminal trial.

On Sunday, his supporters, led by the charismatic Pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, founder of the Sarangseil Presbyterian Church, held a service in the heart of Seoul to celebrate the leader's release. Pastor Jeon hammered home his belief that Yoon is the target of a coup d'état engineered from Pyongyang and Beijing with the complicity of the Democratic opposition and its leader, Lee Jae-myung. Lee criticized the president's release and affirmed his determination to "fight until the insurrection is over."

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