Investigators into charges of insurrection against embattled South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol have been forced to suspend an arrest warrant after a standoff with presidential guards.
Mr Yoon is under investigation following his short-lived martial law decree on December 3rd. He has called the arrest warrant illegal, and told his supporters he will “fight until the end to protect this country”.
Police and officials with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO), the body investigating the botched martial law declaration, found a crowd of Yoon supporters blocking them when they turned up early on Friday in central Seoul to arrest him. A standoff ensued with troops charged with protecting the presidential residence. Local media said the president’s security service then refused to allow investigators into the residence. The investigators withdrew at about 1pm.
Supporters called the CIO investigators “traitors” and vowed to stop Mr Yoon’s arrest – the first of a sitting South Korean president – “with their lives”. Some have co-opted the “Stop the Steal” slogan popularised by supporters of Donald Trump after their failed insurrection on January 6th, 2021.
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Officials released a statement expressing regret that Mr Yoon had failed to to comply with the arrest warrant. “We deeply regret the suspect’s attitude in not responding to the legal process,” it said.
Investigators must now decide if they are going to try again to detain Mr Yoon before the arrest warrant expires on January 6th.
Prosecutors have already indicted several defence officials on charges relating to the decree, including former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun. But leading members of Mr Yoon’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) say the investigation must proceed without the president’s arrest.
Mr Yoon, who has been suspended from office and is also fighting impeachment charges in the country’s constitutional court, has repeatedly ignored summonses from the CIO to answer questions about the martial law decree. Under South Korea law he does not have immunity from prosecution for insurrection charges.
Police told Yonhap news agency that the head of Mr Yoon’s presidential security team had been summoned to answer questions about the standoff and that the team had obstructed official duties.
South Korea’s parliament passed an impeachment vote against Mr Yoon on December 14th after a dozen members of his own party broke ranks and sided with the opposition.
Presidential authority passed to prime minister Han Duck-soo, but Mr Han has since also been impeached after he refused to appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the constitutional court, which is deliberating whether to remove Mr Yoon from office. Finance minister Choi Sang-mok is currently the acting president.
In his new year’s address Mr Choi called for unity and national harmony. “The Republic of Korea is in an unprecedentedly serious situation,” he said.
Seoul western district court approved the arrest warrant for Mr Yoon on December 31st. It also issued a search warrant for Mr Yoon’s residence, following a request from the CIO.
Most South Koreans support Mr Yoon’s removal from office but he remains popular with an older, conservative demographic.
