South Korea’s SEOUL Weeks after a first effort ended in a dramatic standoff at the house where Yoon has been hiding since being impeached, South Korean officials launched a second attempt on Wednesday to apprehend President Yoon Suk Yeol over his unsuccessful declaration of martial law.
Members of Yoon’s security staff welcomed investigators before dawn at his presidential mansion in central Seoul and prevented them from apprehending Yoon on their initial attempt on January 3.
Yoon’s attorneys and members of his People Power Party were also on the access road to the house, claiming the warrant was unlawful and preventing the police from approaching the house’s entry.
Yoon is wanted for interrogation in relation to his brief imposition of martial law last month, which caused political upheaval in the important U.S. ally. Insurrection is one of the few offenses for which South Korean presidents are not immune, and he could be charged with it.
Yoon would be the first president of South Korea to be arrested while in office if the warrant were to be executed.
The second attempt at arrest occurs one day after the Constitutional Court of South Korea opened a trial to decide whether to sustain parliament’ impeachment of Yoon on December 14.
Citing security concerns, Yoon, 64, did not attend Tuesday’s first day of proceedings. He’s been inside a barbed-wire-fortified mountainside villa for weeks, with cars obstructing any potential entrances.
During the initial arrest attempt, presidential bodyguards resisted orders to stand down and engaged in hours-long combat with law police, claiming they were legally obligated to protect the president. Thousands of Yoon’s conservative followers supported them; many of them carried American flags and posters with messages like “Stop the Steal,” which were inspired by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
Since then, investigators have reorganized, and the warrant was renewed last week.
Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, the nation’s acting leader, has expressed worries about potential conflicts between the presidential bodyguards and the authorities.
About 1,000 police officers would be sent in this time to help carry out the warrant, according to the Corruption probe Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is in charge of a joint probe. Additionally, authorities threatened to arrest anyone who attempted to obstruct them.
Lawyers for Yoon have cautioned that removing him from his home in handcuffs might lead to a civil war in a nation that is sharply split along generational and ideological lines.
Yoon may be jailed for up to 48 hours if he is successfully arrested for interrogation. In order to formally indict him and keep him in custody, investigators would then have to ask for another warrant.
Yoon has had difficulty advancing his legislative agenda against the opposition-controlled parliament since taking office in 2022 for a single five-year term.
In an unexpected late-night speech on December 3, he declared martial law, which included a ban on any political activities, and accused anti-state groups of paralyzing the administration and harboring sympathies for communist North Korea.
After lawmakers unanimously rejected the decree, he lifted it almost six hours later.
Yoon has consistently refused to attend for questioning in the criminal inquiry despite his apology for declaring martial law, claiming that it was within his authority as president to do so. This is South Korea’s first martial law proclamation since 1980.
South Korea, which has a long history of military-authoritarian control but has since developed into one of Asia’s most dynamic democracies and the tenth-largest economy in the world, has been profoundly disturbed by the incident.
Max Burman reported from London, Jennifer Jett reported from Hong Kong, and Stella Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea.