Hundreds of Koreans, dressed up against freezing temperatures and snow, rallied overnight into Sunday near impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s home, calling for his removal and arrest, as authorities prepared to restart their efforts to imprison him for his brief martial law order.
Protesters advocating for the removal of South Korea’s President Yoon Suk react outside the National Assembly in Seoul on Saturday following the outcome of the second martial law impeachment vote.
South Korea’s parliament votes to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol. On Friday, anti-corruption investigators and police attempted to execute a detention warrant against Yoon, but were repelled by the presidential security service after a five-hour standoff.
Last Tuesday, a Seoul court issued a warrant to detain Yoon and another to search his home after the embattled president repeatedly refused to appear for questioning and blocking searches of his office. But implementing them is difficult as long as Yoon lives in his official apartment.
Investigators from the country’s anti-corruption agency are considering charges of rebellion after the conservative president declared martial law on December 3 and sent troops to surround the National Assembly, apparently frustrated that his policies were being thwarted by a liberal-dominated legislature.
The Assembly revoked the announcement in hours with a unanimous vote and impeached Yoon on December 14, accusing him of rebellion, while South Korean anti-corruption officials and public prosecutors launched separate investigations into the incidents.
If the anti-corruption agency is able to detain Yoon, it will most likely seek court approval to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, Yoon will be released after 48 hours.
The Corruption probe Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a combined probe with police and military investigators, claims that detaining Yoon would be “virtually impossible” as long as he is protected by the presidential security service.
Yoon’s legal team has stated that it will submit complaints against the anti-corruption agency’s top prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, as well as around 150 investigators and police officers involved in Friday’s alleged illegal detention attempt. The team also stated that it will file charges with public prosecutors against the country’s acting defense minister and police chief for ignoring the presidential security service’s request for more forces to prevent the detention attempt.
Yoon’s lawyers filed an objection to the warrants against the president on Thursday, but the Seoul Western District Court dismissed it on Sunday.
From Saturday evening to Sunday, hundreds of anti-Yoon protesters gathered for hours before the presidential residence’s gates, expressing their dissatisfaction with the failed detention attempt and urging more efforts to bring Yoon into prison. Pro-Yoon protestors gathered in surrounding streets, separated by police barricades and buses, to denounce his impeachment and vow to fight any efforts to imprison him.
Yoon’s lawyers have disputed the president’s detention and search orders, claiming that they cannot be implemented at his apartment due to a law that prohibits searches of locations potentially linked to military secrets without the agreement of the person in charge, who would be Yoon. They further contend that the anti-corruption bureau lacks the legal jurisdiction to examine the rebellion allegations, and police officers don’t have the legal authority to detain the yoon.
According to the Defense Ministry, the presidential security service has jurisdiction over the troops at Yoon’s official residence. The acting defense minister, Kim Seon-ho, expressed his concern to the presidential security service, stating that deploying military personnel to block the execution of the detention warrant would be “inappropriate” and requesting that the troops not be placed in a position to confront police, according to the ministry.
Yoon’s defense minister, police chief, and numerous top military officers have already been imprisoned for their activities during the period of martial law.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly decided to impeach him on December 14. Yoon’s fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove him from office, or to reinstate him.
