Seoul, South Korea
Reuters
South Korean authorities investigating impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attempted to enter his residence on Wednesday morning in a new bid to arrest him over insurrection accusations related to his 3rd December martial law declaration.
Video footage showed hundreds of police officers marching up the road leading to his hillside villa, where he has been holed up for weeks guarded by a small army of personal security.
Police officers and investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials pass through the entrance to the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, as authorities are seeking to execute an arrest warrant, in Seoul, South Korea, on 15th January, 2025. PICTURE: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji.
The officers, some carrying ladders and wire cutters, had earlier pushed through a crowd of Yoon’s supporters gathered nearby. A previous arrest attempt on 3rd January failed after a six-hour standoff between investigators and Yoon’s presidential security agents and military guards.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued the attempts to arrest him are illegal and designed to publicly humiliate him.
Police said they had deployed 3,200 officers to Yoon’s residence to execute the arrest on Wednesday, where hundreds of pro-Yoon protesters and members of his People Power Party had also gathered before dawn in sub-zero temperatures.
“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.
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Braving the freezing early morning on Wednesday, pro-Yoon protesters, some wrapped in foil blankets, sang and waved 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 7th January 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.
– With JU-MIN PARK and CYNTHIA KIM
