SEOUL (Reuters) – Authorities were poised to execute an arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, Yonhap news agency reported, as a crowd of protesters confronted police outside his residence and vowed to block any attempt.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law on December 3. An arrest would be unprecedented for a current South Korean president.
Yonhap reported that officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for Senior Officials (CIO), which leads a joint team of investigators that includes police and prosecutors, left their headquarters to execute the warrant.
Television station YTN reported that around 2,800 police officers were mobilized in preparation for the execution of the order.
It was unclear exactly how the police would carry out the arrest and whether the presidential security service, which has blocked investigators’ access to Yoon’s office and official residence with a search warrant, would try to prevent it.
About 100 protesters gathered before dawn near his residence, amid local media reports that investigating authorities will soon try to execute an arrest warrant that was granted on Tuesday after Yoon refused a summons to appear.
“We have to block them with our lives,” one was heard telling the others. A dozen protesters tried to block a group of police officers at the entrance to the pedestrian overpass.
