For weeks, protesters have been calling for the impeachment and removal of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
BBC NEWS | Published January 3, 2025
The stand-off started long before dawn. By the time we arrived in the dark, an army of police had pushed back suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol’s angry supporters, who’d camped out overnight hoping to stop his arrest. Some of those I spoke to were crying, others wailing, at what they feared was about to unfold.
As dawn broke, the first officers ran up to the house, but were instantly thwarted – blocked by a wall of soldiers protecting the compound. Reinforcements came, but could not help. The doors to Yoon’s house stayed tightly sealed, his security team refusing the police officers entry.
For several hours the investigators waited, the crowds outside growing more agitated – until, after a series of scuffles between the police and security officials, they decided their mission was futile, and gave up.
This is totally uncharted territory for South Korea. It is the first time a sitting president has ever faced arrest, so there is no rule book to follow – but the current situation is nonetheless astonishing.
When Yoon was impeached three weeks ago, he was supposedly stripped of his power. So to have law enforcement officers trying to carry out an arrest – which they have legal warrant for – only to be blocked by Yoon’s security team raises serious and uncomfortable questions about who is in charge here.
The investigating officers said they abandoned efforts to arrest Yoon not only because it looked impossible, but because they were concerned for their safety. They said 200 soldiers and security officers linked arms, forming a human wall to block the entrance to the presidential residence, with some carrying guns.
This is arguably part of Yoon’s plan, leveraging a system he himself designed. Before he declared martial law last month – a plan we now know he cooked up months earlier – he surrounded himself with close friends and loyalists, injecting them into positions of power.
One of those people is the current head of his security team, who took up the job in September.
But although alarming, this situation is not entirely surprising. Yoon has refused to cooperate with the authorities over this investigation, ignoring every request to come in for questioning.
This is how things reached this point, where investigators felt they had no choice but to bring him in by force. Yoon is being investigated for one of the most serious political crimes there is: inciting an insurrection, which is punishable by life in prison or death.
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SOURCE: www.bbc.com
RELATED: South Korea’s president Yoon Suk Yeol evades arrest after six-hour standoff
Impeached leader’s security prevent police from executing warrant to detain him for questioning over last month’s martial law decree
Supporters of impeached Yoon Suk Yeol lie down on the ground during a protest rally outside the presidential palace in Seoul (AP)
Published January 3, 2025
South Korean investigators failed in their attempt to arrest Yoon Suk Yeol after encountering resistance from the impeached president’s security and supporters during a dramatic day that deepened the country’s political crisis.
A six-hour standoff ensued after the presidential security service confronted a joint team from the police and the Corruption Investigation Office that had arrived to detain Mr Yoon shortly after 7am on Friday.
In the end, the investigators left without the president.
“Execution of the arrest warrant was virtually impossible due to the continued standoff,” the Corruption Investigation Office, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military against Mr Yoon, said.
“Future measures will be decided after a review. We express our deepest regret over the suspect’s refusal to comply with legal procedures.”
The standoff deepened the political crisis that has paralysed South Korea and seen two heads of state impeached in less than a month.
The crisis was sparked by Mr Yoon’s botched attempt to impose martial law on 3 December.
The attempt to arrest Mr Yoon came three days after a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant sought by prosecutors investigating whether the president’s shortlived declaration of martial law amounted to insurrection.
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SOURCE: www.independent.co.uk
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