South Korean authorities failed to carry out an arrest of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was recently impeached after he imposed a short-lived declaration of martial law last month.
Upon arriving at Yoon’s presidential residence in Seoul early Friday morning local time, anti-corruption investigators were met with the impeached president’s supporters who vowed to block their approach.
The scene was also filled with some 2,700 police officers and 135 police buses that were deployed to the area to prevent clashes between Yoon’s supporters and detractors after both sides faced off Thursday.
The investigators were trying to execute the arrest warrant when they were confronted by a military unit and Yoon’s presidential security service inside his residential compound. The standoff lasted for six hours until investigators left due to safety concerns.
If successful, the arrest would have marked the first time in the country’s history that an incumbent leader had been detained.
A representative of the opposition Democratic Party threatened to charge anyone who attempted to block the arrest with obstruction of official duties and complicity in insurrection. Meanwhile, the leader of Yoon’s People Power Party asked investigators to refrain from making any “unreasonable attempts at arresting the sitting president.”
Yoon’s lawyers vowed to take legal action over the attempted arrest, which they called “illegal and invalid.”
A South Korean court issued the arrest warrant on Tuesday after Yoon evaded requests for questioning and blocked searches of his office in Seoul, hindering an investigation into whether his bid for martial law amounted to rebellion. The warrant is valid for seven days.
A conservative, Yoon was impeached on December 14 after the first impeachment motion failed to pass South Korea’s parliament the week before. He is suspended from his duties until the Constitutional Court of Korea decides to remove him or restore his powers within six months of the impeachment date.
His martial law declaration only lasted six hours on December 3 until parliament unanimously agreed to overturn it. Before it was lifted, all political activities were banned. South Korean members of parliament pushed on to lift the order. Yoon abided by the legislative body’s recommendation and retracted the declaration.
Yoon vowed to root out “anti-state forces” that allegedly plotted rebellion and sympathized with North Korean communists, seemingly referring to the opposition party’s control of parliament. He did not elaborate on the supposedly nefarious actors at the time. The controversial move, which hadn’t been invoked since 1980, was strongly denounced by his own party and the opposition.
This week, Yoon said he intended to “fight until the end” in a letter to hundreds of his supporters that gathered near his residence to protest the police investigation.
“I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,” Yoon wrote late Wednesday. “I will fight until the end to protect this country together with you.”
The opposition party said the president’s letter demonstrates the author’s delusion and shows he is still intent on completing an “insurrection.”
“As if trying to stage insurrection wasn’t enough, he is now inciting his supporters to an extreme clash,” opposition party spokesman Jo Seoung-lae said.
While officers attempted to make the arrest, many protesters waved South Korean and American flags and held banners that read, “Stop the Steal” — the same slogan that President-elect Donald Trump used to propagate claims of election fraud in 2020.
One pro-Yoon demonstrator told Reuters that he hopes Trump “can use his influence to help our country get back on the right track” after his inauguration on January 20.