A huge screen showing a file footage of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally to oppose a court having issued a warrant to detain Yoon, near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. The letters read, "Oppose Impeachment." (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
SEOUL (Reuters): Authorities sought on Friday to execute an unprecedented arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, evading a crowd of protesters but facing off with security forces inside his residence.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his Dec 3 martial law attempt that stunned South Korea, Asia's fourth-largest economy and one of the region's most vibrant democracies.
An arrest would be the first for an incumbent South Korean president.
Officials from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading a joint team of investigators that include the police and prosecutors, had arrived at the gates of Yoon's compound shortly after 7am, according to Reuters witnesses.
Media reports said the CIO vehicles did not immediately enter the compound, partly due to a bus blocking the driveway.
Some CIO officials later filed through an opened gate on foot and past the bus, but then briefly faced another bus and an armoured vehicle further up the driveway, before they were moved.
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It was unclear whether the Presidential Security Service, which has blocked access by investigators with a search warrant to Yoon's office and official residence, would try to stop the arrest.
Yoon's lawyer said in a statement on Friday that the execution of an invalid arrest warrant against Yoon is unlawful, and they will take legal action, without elaborating.
Protesters gathered in the pre-dawn hours near the residence, with the numbers swelling into the hundreds amid media reports that investigating authorities would soon try to execute the arrest warrant that was approved on Tuesday after Yoon refused a summon to appear.
"We have to block them with our lives," one was heard saying to others.
Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol stage a rally to oppose a court having issued a warrant to detain Yoon, as police offices stand guard near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Some chanted "President Yoon Suk Yeol will be protected by the people," and called for the head of the CIO to be arrested.
Pyeong In-su, 74, said that the police had to be stopped by "patriotic citizens", a term Yoon used to describe those standing guard near his residence.
Holding a flag of the United States and South Korea with the words "Let’s go together" in English and Korean, Pyeong said he hoped incoming US President Donald Trump would come to Yoon's aid.
"I hope after Trump's inauguration he can use his influence to help our country get back on the right track," he said.
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The current arrest warrant is viable until Jan 6, and gives investigators only 48 hours to hold Yoon after he is arrested. Investigators must then decide whether to request a detention warrant or release him.
Once arrested, Yoon is expected to be held at the Seoul Detention Center, Yonhap News Agency said, citing the CIO.
Yoon sent shockwaves through the country with a late-night announcement on Dec 3 that he was imposing martial law to overcome political deadlock and root out "anti-state forces".
Within hours, however, 190 lawmakers had defied the cordons of troops and police to vote against Yoon's order. About six hours after his initial decree, Yoon rescinded it.
He later issued a defiant defence of his decision, saying domestic political opponents are sympathetic to North Korea and citing uncorroborated claims of election tampering.
Kim Yong-hyun, who resigned as Yoon's defence minister after playing a major role in the martial law decree, has been detained and was indicted last week on charges of insurrection and abuse of power.
Insurrection is one of the few criminal charges from which a South Korean president does not have immunity.
Yoon's lawyers have said the arrest warrant was illegal and invalid because the CIO did not have the authority under South Korean law to request a warrant.
Yoon has been isolated since he was impeached and suspended from power on Dec 14.
Separate from the criminal investigation, his impeachment case is currently before the Constitutional Court to decide whether to reinstate or permanently remove him. A second hearing in that case is scheduled for later on Friday.
