South Korea investigators call off President’s arrest after hours-long standoff
The latest attempt by anti-corruption investigators to arrest Yoon Suk Yeol has ended in failure after a nearly six-hour standoff between police and the impeached President’s security corps.
The latest attempt by South Korean investigators to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has ended in failure, with the country’s anti-corruption agency calling a halt to its execution of his arrest warrant after a nearly six-hour standoff.
The Corruption Investigation Office said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential security service blocked them from entering the presidential palace in Seoul for hours due to concerns about their safety.
“Regarding the execution of the arrest warrant today, it was determined that the execution was effectively impossible due to the ongoing standoff. Concern for the safety of personnel on-site led to the decision to halt the execution,” the CIO said.
Thousands of police officers gathered at Mr Yoon’s residence on Friday, forming a perimeter around a growing group of pro-Yoon protesters who braved freezing temperatures for hours, waving South Korean and American flags while chanting slogans vowing to protect him.
At least 50 police and 30 investigators from the office, including senior prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan, were let through heavy security barricades to enter the palace at 10am AEDT to execute the arrest warrant for Mr Yoon.
However, their attempts to arrest him over his failed bid to impose martial law last month met with strong resistance from troops belonging to the Presidential Security Service and from Mr Yoon’s bodyguards.
Park Jong-Joon, head of the PSS guards, refused to accept Mr Yoon’s arrest warrant for security reasons, The Seoul Times reports.
“CIO prosecutors and investigators are in a standoff with the Presidential Security Service in front of the residence after moving past the first and second barriers,” a police official told Yonhap news agency, referring to the gates of the compound and an earlier standoff with a military unit stationed on the grounds.
It is the fourth time investigators have been frustrated in their attempts to arrest the suspended President, with Mr Yoon’s bodyguards blocking them on the previous three occasions.
A Seoul court granted the warrant against Mr Yoon on Tuesday over his failed martial law declaration after he was accused of abusing his power. Mr Yoon has become the first sitting South Korean president to face arrest.
The military Unit responsible for impeding the execution of the Arrest Warrant against Impeached South Korean President Yoon Seok-yoel is the 55th Guard Corps according to Yonhap News. The Unit is responsible for perimeter security of the residence.
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) January 3, 2025
An official from the… pic.twitter.com/Ef9gNrQsi1
The agency has until Monday to execute the warrant, but Yonhap reports it decided to go in on Friday because the number of supporters outside the palace would grow to thousands over the weekend.
Dozens of police buses and hundreds of uniformed police lined the street outside the compound in central Seoul as the investigators went inside.
Vowing to “fight” authorities, Mr Yoon has been holed up inside the residence since a court approved the warrant to detain him.
South Korean media have reported that CIO officials want to take Mr Yoon to their office in Gwacheon, near Seoul, for questioning. After that, he can be held for up to 48 hours on the existing warrant. Investigators need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.
CIO investigators had held back from executing the warrant on Thursday as thousands of supporters for Mr Yoon rallied outside his residence to stop his arrest.
The CIO requested the warrant after Mr Yoon ignored all three summonses to appear for questioning as part of its joint probe with the police and the Defence Ministry’s investigation unit over the imposition of martial law.
The embattled leader issued the bungled declaration on December 3 that led to his impeachment and has left him facing arrest, imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.
Supporters and opponents of Mr Yoon have since camped outside his presidential residence, while members of his security team have thwarted attempted police raids in a series of dramatic standoffs.
Mr Yoon remains unrepentant as the crisis has rolled on, issuing a defiant message to his base.
“The Republic of Korea is currently in danger due to internal and external forces threatening its sovereignty, and the activities of anti-state elements,” he said in a statement passed to protesters, his lawyer, Yoon Kab-keun, confirmed. “I vow to fight alongside you to the very end to protect this nation,” he added, saying he was watching the hundreds-strong protest on Wednesday night on a YouTube live stream.
Mr Yoon’s legal team has filed for an injunction to a constitutional court to block the warrant, calling the arrest order “an unlawful and invalid act”, and also submitted an objection to the Seoul court that ordered it.
But CIO head Oh Dong-woon has warned that anyone trying to block authorities from arresting Mr Yoon could face prosecution.
Along with the summons, a Seoul court issued a search warrant for his official residence and other locations.
South Korean officials have previously failed to execute similar arrest warrants for politicians – in 2000 and 2004 – due to party members and supporters blocking police for the seven-day period the warrants were valid.
Agencies
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