South Korean investigators attempted to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol at his residence Friday over a failed martial law bid, but were being blocked by his security forces.Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested if the warrant is carried out.The president, who issued a bungled declaration on December 3 that shook the vibrant East Asian democracy and briefly lurched it back to the dark days of military rule, faces imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.”The execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol has begun,” said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is probing Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law.CIO investigators including senior prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan were let through heavy security barricades to enter the residence to attempt to execute their warrant to detain Yoon, AFP reporters saw.Soldiers under the Presidential Security Service at one point engaged “in confrontation with the CIO at the presidential residence,” an official with Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff told AFP.Yoon’s security detail told AFP they were “in negotiation” with the CIO investigators, as they sought to access the president to execute their court-approved detention warrant.It had been unclear whether the security service, which still protects Yoon as the country’s sitting head of state, would comply with investigators’ warrants.Yoon’s team has previously blocked attempted police raids of the presidential office, and Yoon himself has ignored three rounds of summons from investigators, prompting them to seek the warrant.Yoon’s legal team — who raced to the residence and were allowed inside, AFP saw — decried the attempt to execute the arrest warrant, vowing to take further legal action against the move.”The execution of a warrant that is illegal and invalid is indeed not lawful,” Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kap-keun said.On Friday, prosecutors also indicted two top military officials including one who was briefly named martial law commander during last month’s fiasco, on charges of insurrection, Yonhap reported. Both were already in detention.Dozens of police buses and hundreds of uniformed police lined the street outside the compound in central Seoul, AFP reporters saw.Some 2,700 police and 135 police buses were deployed to the area to prevent clashes, Yonhap reported, after Yoon’s supporters faced off with anti-Yoon demonstrators Thursday.Yoon has been holed up inside the residence since a court approved the warrant to detain him earlier this week, vowing to “fight” authorities seeking to question him over his short-lived martial law attempt.- All-night prayers -South Korean media have reported that CIO officials want to arrest Yoon and take him 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.After staging chaotic protests Thursday, a handful of Yoon’s die-hard supporters, which include far-right YouTube personalities and evangelical Christian preachers, had camped outside his compound in the bitter cold — some holding all-night prayer sessions.They called early Friday for the arrest of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and chanted “Illegal warrant is invalid” as police and media gathered outside the residence.Pro-Yoon protester Rhee Kang-san told AFP many were “rooting for the president” to survive the arrest attempt.Lee Hye-sook, a 57-year-old Yoon supporter, said protesters were trying to stop opposition figures from “attempting to transform our country into a socialist state, similar to North Korea”.Yoon has doubled down on claims the opposition was in league with South Korea’s communist enemies.Yoon’s legal team had already moved to try and block the arrest warrant at the constitutional court, calling it “unlawful”.But the head of the CIO, Oh Dong-woon, has warned that anyone trying to block authorities from arresting Yoon could themselves face prosecution.South Korean officials have previously failed to execute similar arrest warrants for lawmakers — in 2000 and 2004 — due to party members and supporters blocking police for the seven days the warrants were valid.Yoon also faces a separate Constitutional Court hearing which will confirm or reject his impeachment by parliament.In rare comments about the South’s politics, North Korean state media on Friday said Seoul was in turmoil over attempts to arrest Yoon.”A detention warrant was issued for the president, paralyzing state affairs and further deepening social and political chaos,” the Korean Central News Agency said.
Fri, 03 Jan 2025 03:45:11 GMT
