Hundreds of law enforcement officials in South Korea entered the residential compound of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol early Wednesday in the capital Seoul. It was their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law last month.
More than a thousand anti-corruption investigators and police officers could be deployed in a potentially multiday operation to apprehend Yoon, who has been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence for weeks. Yoon has justified his martial law decree as a legitimate act of governance against an “anti-state” opposition bogging down his agenda with its legislative majority and vowed to “fight to the end” against efforts to oust him.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Yoon’s brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on Jan. 3.
Following an hourslong standoff at the compound’s gate, anti-corruption investigators and police officers were seen moving up the hilly compound. Police officers were earlier seen using ladders to climb over rows of buses placed by the presidential security service near the compound’s entrance.
Anti-corruption investigators and police later arrived in front of a metal gate with a gold presidential mark that’s near Yoon’s residential building. Some officers were seen entering a security door on the side of the metal gate, escorted by one of Yoon’s lawyers and his chief of staff, but it wasn’t immediately clear why they were being let in. The presidential security service later removed a bus and other vehicles that had been parked tightly inside the gate as a barricade.
Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer for Yoon, said attorneys at the residence were negotiating with the anti-corruption agency over the possibility the president could voluntarily appear for questioning. Seok said Yoon had not been detained as of Wednesday morning.
It remained unclear whether law enforcement would accept the offer from Yoon’s lawyers, as the president previously evaded multiple requests to appear for questioning before the agency sought court warrants for his detention. There were no immediate reports of clashes.
Despite a court warrant for Yoon’s detention, the presidential security service has insisted it’s obligated to protect the impeached president and has fortified the compound with barbed wire and rows of buses blocking paths.
As tensions escalated, South Korea’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, issued a statement early Wednesday urging law enforcement and the presidential security service to ensure there are no “physical clashes.”
Groups of police officers dressed in black jackets and police vehicles, including a white van possibly with members of a search and arrest team inside, were seen in front of the presidential compound’s closed metal gate. Separate groups of police officers were also seen moving up a trekking path near the hilly compound, apparently pursuing another route to get inside.
Some police officers were later seen successfully entering the residence, using ladders to climb over rows of buses the presidential security service placed as a barricade.
Yoon’s lawyers said the presidential security service would continue to provide security for Yoon and claimed that the detainment warrant issued by the Seoul Western District Court was invalid. They cited a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge – which would be Yoon. The court warrant for Yoon’s detainment is valid through January 21.
Lawmakers from Yoon’s People Power Party, along with at least one of his lawyers, were earlier seen at the residence’s gate, apparently arguing with anti-corruption officials and police officers attempting to enter.
Hundreds of Yoon’s supporters and critics held competing protests near the residence – one side vowing to protect him, the other calling for his imprisonment- while thousands of police officers in yellow jackets closely monitored the situation, setting up perimeters with buses.
Yoon’s top aide Tuesday pleaded with law enforcement agencies to abandon their efforts to detain him. Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said Yoon could instead be questioned at a “third site” or at his residence and said the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a “South American drug cartel.”
But Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Chung issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plan to make the president available for questioning by investigators.
If investigators manage to detain Yoon Suk Yeol, they will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.
Yoon has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining him after a nearly six-hour standoff on January 3.
The National Police Agency has convened multiple meetings of field commanders in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan their detainment efforts, and the size of those forces fueled speculation that more than a thousand officers could be deployed in a possible multiday operation. The agency and police have openly warned that presidential bodyguards obstructing the execution of the warrant could be arrested.
Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops around the National Assembly on Dec. 3. It lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and vote to lift the measure.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.
In preventing Yoon’s detention on Jan. 3, presidential bodyguards were assisted by troops assigned to guard the presidential residence under the command of the presidential security service. However, Defence Ministry spokesperson Lee Kyung-ho said Tuesday the troops will no longer participate in efforts to block the execution of Yoon’s detention warrant and will focus solely on guarding the compound’s perimeter.