We start with the arrest of ex-President Lee Myung-bak on corruption charges.<br />He was taken from his home in southern Seoul late last night to a detention center in the east of the capital.<br />Let's connect to our Cha Sang-mi, standing by outside the detention center, to tell us more about the situation after the court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for the ex-leader.<br />Sang-mi, so ex-president Lee Myung-bak has spent his first night behind bars...<br /><br /> <br /> That's right, Se-min.<br />The former president is now locked up at the Seoul Eastern Detention Center behind me in Songpa-gu District, southeastern Seoul. <br />He was brought here just past midnight, after the Seoul Central District Court issued an arrest warrant against him less than an hour earlier.<br /> The former president posted a photograph of a hand-written statement on his Facebook before leaving his home, saying (quote) "I don't blame others. Everything is my fault and I feel remorse."<br />Lee's legal team expressed regret over the decision to arrest the former president, although they said they respected the court's decision.<br />They added that "this is the start of a long fight", signaling their plan to fight each of the allegations in court.<br />Normally suspects processed by the Seoul Central District Court are detained at the Seoul Detention Center in Gyeonggi-do Province, but the court decided to hold Lee at the Seoul Eastern Detention Center, considering another former president, Park Geun-hye, is being held at the Seoul Detention Center.<br /> Lee is to be kept in solitary confinement on the twelfth floor in a cell that's just ten square meters big.<br />That sounds small, but it's almost double the size of an average solitary cell and includes a TV set and separate shower facilities.<br /><br /> Sang-mi, Lee joins a long list of ex-Korean presidents who have landed themselves in jail due to their corrupt dealings.... <br /><br /> Right, Se-min, it's been about a year since Lee's successor,.. Park Geun-hye was arrested on March 31st 2017 on serious corruption charges, including bribery and abuse of power. <br />Her trial is coming to a close and prosecutors are demanding she serve 30 years in jail <br /> With his arrest, Lee becomes the fourth living former Korean president to have been detained over past corrupt practices.<br />The 76-year-old faces at least 14 charges, the most serious of which is receiving ten million U.S. dollars in bribes from businesses and agencies.<br /> Other charges include embezzlement, tax evasion, and a violation of election law.<br />This also marks the first time in 23 years that two ex-presidents are detained at the same time.<br />Ex-presidents Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo were jailed for mutiny and corruption in 1995, but were released two years later through a presidential pardon.<br />Back to you, Se-min. <br />
