South Korean president to be arrested by January 6: investigators

South Korean investigators have said they’ll execute their arrest warrant for Yoon Suk Yeol within the January 6 deadline, warning anyone attempting to block them will be prosecuted.

Police watch as supporters of impeached South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol gather near the presidential residence in Seoul. Picture: AFP.

South Korean investigators have said they’ll execute their arrest warrant for impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol within the January 6 deadline.

The warrant was issued on Tuesday over Mr Yoon’s declaration of martial law,

prompting hundreds of supporters to gather at the gates of his private residence.

The warrant will be executed “within the deadline,” said Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. “We aim for a smooth process without major disturbances, but we are also coordinating to mobilise police.”

Mr Oh also warned anyone trying to block them from arresting the suspended president could face prosecution.

“We consider actions such as setting up various barricades and locking iron gates to resist the execution of our arrest warrant as obstruction of official duties,” Mr Oh said, adding anyone doing this “could be prosecuted.”

Investigators probing Mr Yoon over his December 3 declaration of martial law had requested the warrant after he failed to report for questioning a third time.

Mr Yoon’s legal team described the arrest order as “illegal and invalid” and filed an injunction to nullify it.

It is the first time in the country’s history that a sitting president has been subject to an arrest warrant.

“I came out here because I was shocked and horrified that they’re trying to arrest the president,” said Song Mi-ja, a pro-Yoon protester.

“The martial law was not an insurrection, what they’re trying to do now is one,” she told AFP.

Oh Dong-woon (C), chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, speaks to journalists. Picture; Yonhap/AFP.

Mr Yoon has been stripped of his presidential duties by parliament and faces criminal charges of insurrection, which could result in life imprisonment or even the death penalty.

“The arrest warrant and search and seizure warrant issued at the request of an agency without investigative authority are illegal and invalid,” his lawyer Yoon Kab-keun said in a statement sent to AFP.

He said his client was not guilty of insurrection, adding that there was no intention of disrupting “the constitutional order” or to stage “an uprising”.

But a Corruption Investigation Office official said there was “sufficient probable cause” to suspect Mr Yoon commissioned a crime.

The warrant will be valid until Monday, the official told reporters, and if Mr Yoon is detained he would likely be held at the Seoul detention centre.

“There is a concern that the individual may refuse to comply with summons without justifiable reasons,” they said.

The Presidential Security Service (PSS) guarding Mr Yoon have previously refused to comply with search warrants, making it unclear whether investigators and police will be able to execute the arrest.

Local media reported that an imminent arrest or search of the presidential residence was unlikely, because investigators would seek to coordinate with the PSS.

Yun Bok-nam, president of Lawyers for a Democratic Society and who is not involved in the investigation, told AFP he predicted Yoon’s arrest “will proceed smoothly” because the PSS has no legal standing to reject an arrest warrant.

AFP