South Korean Investigators left impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official residence after a nearly six-hour standoff on Friday during which he defied their try to detain him. It is the latest clash in a political crisis that has paralyzed South Korean politics and led to the impeachment of two heads of state in less than a month.
The country’s anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential security service blocked them from entering Yoon’s residence for hours, citing concerns for their safety.
The agency said the outnumbered investigators had several clashes with presidential security forces and expressed “serious regret for the attitude of the suspect who did not comply with legal process.”
It said detaining Yoon would be “almost impossible” as long as he is protected by the presidential security service. The agency plans to “strongly demand” that the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, order the agency to comply with their enforcement of the detention order.
Outside the residence, a large group of pro-Yoon protesters braved freezing temperatures for hours, waving South Korean and American flags and chanting slogans vowing to protect him.
The National Police Agency said it plans to investigate the chief and deputy chiefs of the presidential security service for suspected obstruction of official duties and has called them in for questioning on Saturday.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, resisted investigators’ attempts to question him for weeks. He is known to have left the residence for the last time on December 12, when he went to the nearby presidential office to make a televised statement to the nation, making a defiant declaration that he would fight attempts to oust him from power.
A South Korean court has issued an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon
Investigators from the state’s anti-corruption agency are considering sedition charges after Yoon, apparently frustrated that his policies were blocked by the opposition-dominated parliament, declared a state of emergency on December 3 and sent troops to surround the National Assembly.
Parliament overturned the declaration within hours by unanimous vote and impeached Yoon on December 14, charging him with sedition, while South Korea’s anti-corruption authorities and public prosecutors opened separate investigations into the events.
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A Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for Yoon and a special search warrant for his residence on Tuesday, but their enforcement is complicated as long as he remains at his official residence.
Yoon’s lawyers, who filed an objection to the warrant on Thursday, say it cannot be executed at his residence because of a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from being searched without the consent of the person responsible.
The office said it would discuss further actions, but did not immediately say whether it would try to detain Yoon again. The order for his detention is valid for one week.
Yoon’s lawyers also argued that the Office of Corruption Investigation for Senior Officials, which is conducting a joint investigation with police and military investigators, does not have the authority to investigate the sedition allegations. They said the police officers had no legal authority to help detain Yoon and could face arrest by “the Presidential Security Service or any citizen.” They did not elaborate further on the claim.
If investigators are able to detain Yoon, they will likely ask the court for permission to formally arrest him. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.
During a press briefing, an anti-corruption agency official said its investigators were able to get within 200 meters (yards) of Yoon’s residence, but were stopped by a barricade consisting of about 10 vehicles and approximately 200 members of the presidential security force. and troops. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under department rules, said the three prosecutors were eventually allowed to enter the building, but could not confirm whether Yoon was inside.
South Korea’s parliament has impeached acting president Han
Although the Presidential Security Act mandates Yoon’s protection, it does not authorize the Presidential Security Service to block court-ordered detentions, which would constitute a violation of judicial powers, said Park Seong-bae, a lawyer specializing in criminal law. Although the president is generally immune from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to charges of sedition or treason.
“There is a strong possibility that the act of preventing the execution of a detention order would constitute obstruction of official duty,” he said.
A law requiring the consent of a person in charge of searches at locations with potential military secrets could continue to interfere with Yoon’s detention. Courts often require law enforcement officials to obtain search warrants with arrest warrants in case they need to search a place to locate a suspect, which the anti-corruption agency also did in its pursuit of Yoon.
It is unlikely that approval could come from the country’s acting leader, Choi, as it would be difficult to see him as the person in charge of Yoon’s residence, Park said.
Park Chan-dae, leader of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, called the anti-corruption agency’s withdrawal regrettable and urged the agency to try again on Friday to detain Yoon.
Kwon Young-se, who heads the emergency committee of Yoon’s conservative People’s Power Party, called the agency’s effort to arrest Yoon “highly unfair and grossly inappropriate,” saying there was no risk of Yoon trying to flee or destroy evidence.
South Korean lawmakers impeach president after declaring state of emergency
Thousands of police converged on Yoon’s residence on Friday, forming a perimeter around a growing group of pro-Yoon protesters who braved freezing temperatures for hours, waving South Korean and American flags and chanting slogans vowing to protect him. There were no immediate reports of major clashes outside the residence.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested for their roles in the martial law period.
Yoon’s presidential powers have been suspended since the National Assembly voted to impeach him on December 14. Yoon’s fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun debating whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him. At least six judges from the nine-member Constitutional Court must vote for his removal from office.
The National Assembly last week voted to impeach Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who became acting president after Yoon’s powers were suspended, over his reluctance to fill three vacancies on the Constitutional Court before a judicial review of Yoon’s case.
Facing mounting pressure, the new acting president, Choi, appointed two new judges on Tuesday, which could increase the chances of the court upholding Yoon’s impeachment.
