South Korean investigators move again to arrest impeached President Yoon

SEOUL: South Korean authorities investigating impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attempted to enter his residence before dawn on Wednesday (Jan 15) in a new bid to arrest him over insurrection accusations related to his Dec 3 martial law declaration.

Video footage showed investigating officers trying to push through a crowd of Yoon’s supporters gathered outside his hillside villa, where he has been holed up for weeks behind barbed wire and a small army of personal security.

Buses and barbed wire blocked the road leading up to the residence.

A previous attempt to detain Yoon, which his lawyers have argued is illegal and designed to publicly humiliate him, was called off on Jan 3 after a six-hour standoff with his presidential security agents and military guards.

“As I have repeatedly emphasised the need for prevention of physical conflict between state agencies … I will sternly hold those responsible if unfortunate events occur,” Acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement on Wednesday.

Yoon’s declaration of martial law stunned South Koreans and plunged one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies into an unprecedented period of political turmoil.

The arrest warrant is the first ever issued against an incumbent South Korean president.

Separately, the Constitutional Court is deliberating over whether to uphold a vote by lawmakers to impeach Yoon and permanently remove him from office.

Braving the freezing early morning on Wednesday, hundreds of people protesting Yoon’s arrest and members of his People Power Party gathered outside the residence.

Some were singing and waving flags bearing “Stop the Steal” slogans referring to Yoon’s unsubstantiated claims of election fraud – one of the reasons he gave to justify his short-lived martial law declaration.

The opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in parliament after a landslide legislative election victory last year, issued a statement calling on Yoon to comply with the arrest.

“There is no place to run anymore,” the party said.

Yoon’s lawyers have said their arrest warrant is illegal because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team set up to investigate him had no legal mandate to do so.

The team executing the arrest warrant – made up of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and the police – secured a re-issued warrant on Jan 7 and has held multiple meetings with Yoon’s personal security in a bid to ensure a successful execution.

Oh Dong-woon, head of the CIO leading the investigation, has said authorities would do whatever it takes to bring Yoon into custody.