From Jack Kim
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a new and potentially stronger attempt to arrest him on sedition charges after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break the security blockade and capture the impeached leader.
Protesters supporting and opposing the embattled Yoon continued to brave freezing temperatures to hold rallies in the streets around the presidential compound on Wednesday after a court reissued an arrest warrant for Yoon a day earlier.
The Presidential Security Service (PSS) was seen this week securing the compound with barbed wire and barricades using buses to block access to the hilltop mansion where Yoon is believed to be, after he ignored calls to appear for questioning.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for sedition over his Dec. 3 martial law bid that stunned South Korea and led to the first arrest warrant for a sitting president.
He is also involved in a separate trial at the Constitutional Court over his impeachment on December 14 for violating his constitutional duties by declaring a state of emergency late at night.
Oh Dong-woon, head of the Corruption Investigation Office for Senior Officials (CIO), which is leading the investigation against Yoon, apologized on Tuesday for the failed arrest attempt last Friday after a tense six-hour standoff inside the presidential compound.
Oh gave up trying to arrest him after a human chain of hundreds of PSS members and military guards prevented him from entering the presidential compound.
“We will do our best to achieve our goal by thoroughly preparing this time with great determination to make the second execution of the order the last,” Oh told the parliamentary committee. It was not immediately clear how long the new arrest warrant would last.
Oh did not protest when members of parliament called for tough action to overwhelm the presidential guard and military troops inside the compound, but declined to confirm what options were being considered.
Various scenarios reported by local media include the mobilization of police special tactical units and heavy equipment to break through the barricades, followed by more than 2,000 police to extract the presidential guard, taking as long as three days if necessary to exhaust presidential security agents .
The CIO and police were outnumbered in the previous arrest attempt by cordons of more than 200 PSS members, some carrying firearms, as well as soldiers assigned to presidential security, as the two sides clashed, a CIO official said.
