South Korean presidential guards and military troops prevented authorities from arresting President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday in a tense six-hour standoff inside Yoon’s compound in the heart of Seoul.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his proposal to implement martial law on Dec. 3, which stunned South Korea and led to the first arrest warrant issued against a sitting president.
“It was deemed virtually impossible to execute the arrest warrant due to the current standoff,” the Corruption Investigation Office for Senior Officials (CIO) said in a statement.
CIO officials and police evaded hundreds of Yoon supporters who gathered before dawn today near his residence, who adopted the “Stop the Steal” slogans popularized by supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump to block the arrest.
CIO officials, who lead a joint team of investigators, arrived at the gates of the presidential complex shortly after 7 a.m. (2200 GMT Thursday) and entered on foot.
Once inside the complex, the CIO and police were outnumbered by cordons of Presidential Security Service (PSS) personnel, as well as troops attached to presidential security, a CIO official told reporters.
More than 200 PSS agents and soldiers blocked the CIO agents and the police, he added. While there were altercations and the PSS officers appeared to be carrying firearms, they did not draw weapons, he said.
Yoon, who has been isolated since he was charged and suspended from power on Dec. 14, was not seen during the confrontation, he said.
South Korea’s Defense Ministry said the troops involved were under the control of the PSS.
The CIO called off the effort to arrest Yoon around 1:30 p.m. due to concerns about the safety of its staff and said it “deeply regretted” Yoon’s failure to comply.
The CIO said it would consider its next steps. The police, who are part of the joint investigation team, named the PSS chief and the deputy as suspects in criminal proceedings for obstruction of official duties and summoned them to appear for questioning on Saturday. yonhap news reported.
Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges against which a South Korean president has no immunity.
Yoon’s arrest warrant, approved by a court on Tuesday after he ignored multiple summonses to appear for questioning, is valid until Jan. 6.
In a statement after the arrest effort was suspended, Yoon’s legal team said the CIO had no authority to investigate the insurrection and that it was regrettable that it had attempted to execute an illegal warrant in a security-sensitive area.
The statement warned police not to support the arrest effort.
The presidential office filed a criminal complaint against three broadcasters and YouTube channel owners for unauthorized filming of the presidential residence, which it said was “a secure facility directly linked to national security.”
The current order gives investigators only 48 hours to detain Yoon after his arrest. Investigators must then decide whether to request an arrest warrant or release him.
Kim Seon-taek, a law professor at Korea University, said targeting PSS leaders could allow investigators to undermine the service’s ability to put up resistance so they can try again to carry out the order, which is “a difficult way.” ” to proceed.
A better way, he said, would be for acting President Choi Sang-mok to exercise his power to order the PSS to cooperate. Later today, the CIO said it would ask Choi to give that order.
Choi’s office had no comment on the attempted arrest.
surprise martial law
Yoon sent shockwaves through Asia’s fourth-largest economy and one of the region’s most vibrant democracies with his late-night announcement on Dec. 3 that he was imposing martial law to overcome political deadlock and eradicate “anti-state forces.”
However, within hours, 190 lawmakers defied cordons of troops and police to vote against Yoon’s order. About six hours after his initial decree, Yoon rescinded it.
He later issued a defiant defense of his decision, saying domestic political opponents were sympathetic to North Korea and citing uncorroborated accusations of election rigging.
Two South Korean military officers, including the martial law commander during the brief statement, have been indicted on insurrection charges. Yonhap reported today.
Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned as Yoon’s defense minister after playing a leading role in the martial law decree, was detained and charged last week with insurrection and abuse of power.
Aside from the criminal investigation, Yoon’s impeachment case is before the Constitutional Court to decide whether to reinstate or permanently remove him.
A second hearing in that case was held on Friday and the court set the first oral arguments for January 14.
Yoon’s defense team, arguing there were no grounds to charge him, in its court filing cited a July 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that stated Trump had immunity for actions taken as president. yonhap news reported.
North Korean state media published a detailed report on the political turmoil in the South, including the arrest warrant issued for Yoon, who they said “stubbornly refuses to be investigated, totally denying his crimes with pure lies.”
North Korea has sharply criticized Yoon, citing his hardline policy against Pyongyang as a reason for declaring the South a “major enemy” and announcing that it had abandoned unification as a national goal.
