South Korean investigators entered the president’s home in a second arrest attempt Politics News
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Investigators used a ladder to climb into President Yoon Suk-yeol’s estate after he failed to appear at an impeachment trial.
South Korean investigators used a ladder to climb into the residential compound of impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, in their second attempt to arrest him over his short-lived imposition martial law, according to reports.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that dozens of police officials entered Yoon’s compound in central Seoul at 7:30 a.m. local time (22:30 GMT) on Wednesday.
Investigators were initially blocked by the presidential security service, which barricaded the entrance with vehicles, as well as a group of lawmakers from the ruling conservative People Power Party and Yoon’s lawyers, Yonhap said.
The standoff at Yoon’s presidential residence comes hours after he he didn’t show up for the first hearing in the process of his impeachment. Efforts to remove him from office continue nearly six weeks after he imposed martial law, which was quickly overturned by the National Assembly.
Patrick Fok, reporting for Al Jazeera from Seoul, said an estimated 1,000 police officers were involved in the operation at the presidential residence.
“The presidential security team has warned once again that it sees this arrest warrant as having no legal basis and said it will implement regular security protocols,” Fok said. That “probably means they will do whatever it takes to protect the president, who is currently barricaded inside his official residence,” he added.
Thousands of people gathered outside Yoon’s home, including those who chanted messages of support for the impeached president.
This is the second attempt by investigators to arrest Yoon after the previous one failed attempt ended after an hours-long standoff with his security team inside the presidential compound in early January.
Since then, Yoon stayed in his mansion on a hill in Seoul for weeks in an attempt to avoid arrest. He also failed to appear at the impeachment trial on Tuesday morning, delaying the hearings minutes after they began.
The president’s lawyers said he would not attend the impeachment hearing, adding that he would be prevented from expressing his views freely because of ongoing attempts by authorities to detain him.
The trial comes after South Korea’s National Assembly voted to impeach Yoon on December 14, after he imposed martial law in a surprise late-night address on December 3, 2024.
