The anti-corruption agency responsible for investigating martial law in South Korea announced Monday that it would request additional time to arrest deposed President Yoon Suk-yeol, holed up in his residence in Seoul, after being prevented from doing so. done on Friday by the leader’s close guard. The arrest warrant issued on December 31 by a Seoul court expires this Monday, January 6 at midnight (4 p.m. French time). “We plan to request an extension today,” Deputy Director of the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), Lee Jae-seung, said at a press briefing on Monday morning.
On Friday, CIO investigators supported by police officers entered the president’s residence to apprehend him. But they came up against an army unit and agents of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) twice as numerous as them, and had retreated, empty-handed, after six hours of face-to-face confrontation. tense. Negotiations between different security services are underway on Monday on how to proceed with a second attempt.
The police declined a request from the IOC which, due to the difficulties encountered on Friday, wanted them to take charge of the next raid on Yoon Suk-yeol alone. But she made it known that she would still lend him a helping hand. “The execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon is the responsibility of the IOC,” a police official told reporters. But “we will consider the possibility of arresting any member of the Presidential Security Service personnel who obstructs the process during the execution of the second term,” he added. The IOC chief said his department had asked acting President Choi Sang-mok to order the president’s bodyguards to cooperate. “But we have not received a response,” he lamented.
“We will come back”
Former star prosecutor Yoon Suk-yeol, 64, was impeached by the National Assembly on December 14. He is the target of an investigation for “rebellion”, a crime punishable by death, for having introduced martial law by surprise on December 3 and sending the army to Parliament to muzzle him, before reversing course shortly after. under pressure from deputies and thousands of demonstrators.
Like every day since December 31, hundreds of unconditional supporters of Yoon Suk-yeol were present on Monday from dawn, in the mist, near the home of the deposed president, ready to fight in the event of another arrest attempt. and monitored by numerous police officers, saw AFP journalists on site. “The Presidential Security Service will protect the president, and we will protect the Presidential Security Service until midnight. If they get another arrest warrant, we will come back,” said one of the organizers of the rally, Kim Soo-yong , 62 years old.
Around fifty detractors of Yoon Suk-yeol also demonstrated in the surrounding area. “The IOC is one of the most incompetent agencies I’ve ever seen. I’ve been here longer than the IOC. It doesn’t make sense that they can’t do this. They need to stop it immediately.” , says one of these demonstrators, Kim Ah-young, in her thirties.
Visiting US Secretary of State Amid Chaos
The vociferations of the pro-Yoon demonstrators were clearly audible from the hotel where the American Secretary of State was staying, visiting Seoul in the middle of this psychodrama. Antony Blinken refrained from taking any position on the political situation but praised the country’s “democratic resilience”. “The United States has full confidence in South Korea’s institutions,” he said at a press conference. As if to add to the confusion, North Korea fired its first ballistic missile of the year during his visit.
Yoon Suk-yeol’s lawyers argue that the arrest warrant is “invalid and illegal.” Their appeal against the mandate was rejected by a Seoul court, but they said they would appeal. The head of the Presidential Security Service, Park Jong-jun, invoked this argument on Sunday to justify his refusal to allow Yoon Suk-yeol to be arrested. “The execution of an arrest warrant whose procedural and legal regularity is the subject of disputes compromises the fundamental mission of the PSS, which is to ensure the absolute security of the president,” he wrote on Sunday in a statement, while Yoon Suk-yeol’s detractors accuse his service of having become a “private militia” of the president.
On Sunday, one of the lawyers of the deposed president, Yoon Kab-keun, also announced the filing of a complaint against the head of the IOC. South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which has until mid-June to confirm or overturn Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment, announced that hearings would begin on January 14. In the meantime, the suspended Yoon Suk-yeol officially remains the country’s president.