Rival camps protest in South Korea as authorities press for Yoon’s arrest | Politics News
Prosecutors are asking the acting president to order security forces to act on the arrest warrant for impeached leader Yoon.
Thousands of South Korean protesters for and against impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol staged rival rallies in Seoul, a day after authorities did not execute the arrest warrant about the suspended leader due to his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.
Protesters faced off outside the presidential residence and along major thoroughfares in the South Korean capital on Saturday to demand Yoon’s arrest or call for his impeachment to be declared invalid.
The widening political divide comes after investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) for senior officials pressured the country’s acting president Choi Sang-mok to order the presidential security service to act on an arrest warrant for Yoon.
On Friday, presidential security and soldiers prevented prosecutors from arresting Yoon in a six-hour standoff inside the impeached president’s compound. Investigators eventually gave up trying to make an arrest due to security concerns.
The showdown — which reportedly involved pushing but no shots fired — left the warrant in limbo, and the court order expires Monday.
Yoon’s extraordinary statement on December 3 stunned South Korea and led to the issuance of the first arrest warrant for the sitting president, and also triggered deep political crisis.
Yoon faces felony charges of sedition, one of several crimes not subject to presidential immunity, meaning he could face prison terms or, at worst, the death penalty.
His lawyers condemned Friday’s attempted arrest as “illegal and invalid” and said they would take legal action.
Also on Saturday, police asked Park Chong-jun, head of the presidential security service that protects Yoon, to appear for questioning on Tuesday, Yonhap News reported.
Al Jazeera reporter Patrick Fok, reporting from Seoul, said Saturday’s protests were peaceful and orderly.
“It was remarkable in many ways, but the sense of frustration among the people against President Yoon is no doubt growing,” he said.
“And you wonder how long these rallies can remain peaceful if the situation continues as it is.”
Yoon supporter Kim Chul-hong, 60, said the impeached president’s arrest could undermine South Korea’s security alliance with the US and Japan.
“Protecting President Yoon means protecting our country’s security from threats from North Korea,” he told the AFP news agency.
Meanwhile, members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, South Korea’s largest umbrella union, tried to march to Yoon’s residence to protest against him, but were blocked by police.
The union said two of its members were arrested and several were injured in clashes with police on Saturday.
Investigators may still make one more attempt to arrest Yoon before the warrant expires on Monday. If the warrant expires, investigators can request another one.
The Constitutional Court set January 14 as the starting date Yoon’s impeachment trialwhich would continue even in his absence if he does not attend.
