Police stand on guard duty near the president's residence in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, Thursday (Jan 2, 2025). - Photo: Yonhap
SEOUL: As a joint investigative team led by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials moved to detain President Yoon Suk Yeol, tensions flared between his supporters, opponents, police and the Presidential Security Service outside his residence on Thursday (Jan 2).
Two days after the Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant to hold Yoon for 48 hours on Tuesday, the CIO-led investigative team reiterated that it would execute the warrant before its expiration on Monday.
The CIO -- part of the joint investigation along with the Korean National Police Agency’s National Office of Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Command of the Defence Ministry -- said it is still discussing the appropriate timing and how to exercise the warrant.
“The exact date is yet to be announced, but we will take actions before the court-issued arrest warrant expires,” the CIO official told The Korea Herald on Thursday.
When police made search and seizure attempts at the president’s residence in the past week, the Presidential Security Service blocked the investigators, reiterating the Criminal Procedure Act that states such measures “shall not be conducted at a place in respect of which military information shall be kept confidential, unless approval from the person in charge is obtained.”
But the latest warrant dictates an exception to Articles 110 and 111 -- which cover military and public secrets, respectively, as relates to a seizure -- of the Criminal Procedure Act, allowing investigators to push ahead.
Oh Dong-woon, head of the CIO, said Wednesday that the investigators will execute the arrest warrant in accordance with the principles and have asked the Presidential Security Service to cooperate with the imminent arrest.
The CIO chief also stated any action to deny the arrest order, including closing the door of the presidential residence, locking the gates and setting up a barricade, could be considered obstruction of official duties.
The joint investigative team is reportedly considering deploying police to maintain order in areas nearby the president’s residence, where both anti- and pro-Yoon demonstrations are being staged.
If Yoon is taken into custody, investigators will take him to the CIO’s headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, for questioning, and detain the president at the Seoul Detention Center in nearby Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province.
Investigators have authority to detain the president for up to 48 hours, but could hold him up to 20 days longer if they seek another warrant, citing concerns of him fleeing, destroying evidence or committing additional offenses.
Meanwhile, Yoon’s legal team announced Wednesday that it plans to file a competence dispute against the judge who invoked exceptions to Articles 110 and 111 in the latest warrant, arguing that the Criminal Procedure Act does not grant the judge the authority to disregard these provisions.
“This decision is not legally valid. It is a serious matter that violates the law. The court needs to conduct a thorough investigation and the judge, who is found responsible, should be suspended from his duty and be punished,” Yun Gap-geun, one of Yoon’s legal representatives, told reporters.
The court approved a request from the CIO to arrest Yoon over his alleged abuse of power and insurrection on Tuesday after the president ignored three successive summonses on Dec 18, 25 and 29.
Yoon became the first sitting president to face arrest in South Korea’s constitutional history. - The Korea Herald/ANN
