By Agencies and published by CNA
Seoul – South Korean investigators entered the presidential residence early Friday (Jan. 3) seeking to arrest Yoon Suk Yeol, the first time the country has ever sought to arrest a sitting leader.
Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office, which is probing Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, were let through heavy security barricades to enter the residence to attempt to execute their warrant to detain Yoon, AFP reporters saw.
Officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading a joint team of investigators that includes the police and prosecutors, had arrived at the gates of Yoon’s compound shortly after 7 a.m. (5 a.m. in Thailand).
Media reports said the CIO vehicles did not immediately enter the compound, partly due to a bus blocking the driveway, but live footage later appeared to show some CIO officials filing through an opened gate on foot.
The CIO officials then briefly faced another bus and an armoured vehicle further up the driveway, before they were moved.
It was unclear whether the Presidential Security Service, which has blocked access by investigators with a search warrant to Yoon’s office and official residence, would try to stop the arrest.
Yoon’s lawyer said in a statement on Friday that the execution of an invalid arrest warrant against Yoon is unlawful, and they will take legal action, without elaborating.
Protesters gathered in the pre-dawn hours near the residence, with the numbers swelling into the hundreds amid media reports that investigating authorities would soon try to execute the arrest warrant that was approved on Tuesday after Yoon refused summons to appear.
“We have to block them with our lives,” one was heard saying to others. About a dozen protesters tried to block a group of police officers at the entrance to a pedestrian overpass.
Some chanted “President Yoon Suk Yeol will be protected by the people”, and called for the head of the CIO to be arrested.
Pyeong In-su, 74, said that the police had to be stopped by “patriotic citizens”, a term Yoon used to describe those standing guard near his residence.
Holding a flag of the United States and South Korea with the words “Let’s go together” in English and Korean, Pyeong said he hoped incoming US President Donald Trump would come to Yoon’s aid.
“I hope after Trump’s inauguration he can use his influence to help our country get back on the right track,” he said.
The current arrest warrant is viable until Jan. 6 and gives investigators only 48 hours to hold Yoon after he is arrested. Investigators must then decide whether to request a detention warrant or release him.
Once arrested, Yoon is expected to be held at the Seoul Detention Centre, Yonhap News Agency said, citing the CIO.
Surprise martial law
Yoon sent shockwaves through the country with a late-night announcement on Dec, 3 that he was imposing martial law to overcome political deadlock and root out “anti-state forces”.
Within hours, however, 190 lawmakers had defied the cordons of troops and police to vote against Yoon’s order. About six hours after his initial decree, Yoon rescinded it.
He later issued a defiant defence of his decision, saying domestic political opponents are sympathetic to North Korea and citing uncorroborated claims of election tampering.
Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned as Yoon’s defence minister after playing a major role in the martial law decree, has been detained and was indicted last week on charges of insurrection and abuse of power.
Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges from which a South Korean president does not have immunity.
Yoon’s lawyers have said the arrest warrant was illegal and invalid because the CIO did not have the authority under South Korean law to request a warrant.
Yoon has been isolated since he was impeached and suspended from power on Dec. 14.
Separate from the criminal investigation, his impeachment case is currently before the Constitutional Court to decide whether to reinstate or permanently remove him. A second hearing in that case is scheduled for later on Friday.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Vehicles believed to be of investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials arrive at the impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official residence in Seoul, South Korea on Jan. 3, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Yonhap and published by CNA
First insert: Members of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials gather in front of the impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official residence in Seoul, South Korea on Jan. 3, 2025. Photo: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji and published by CNA
Second insert: Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol wave Korean and US flags near his residence in Seoul on Jan. 3, 2025. Photo: AFP/Phillip Fong and published by CNA
First below: Police stand guard at the residence of South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul on Jan. 3, 2025. Photo: AFP/Jung Yeon-je and published by CNA
Second below: Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol hold up posters along with Korean and US flags near his residence in Seoul on Jan 3, 2025. Photo: AFP/Phillip Fong and published by CNA
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