South Korea In Political Crisis After President Resists Arrest

South Korea In Political Crisis After President Resists Arrest

South Korea’s political leadership was in uncharted territory Saturday after the sitting president resisted arrest over a failed martial law decree days before the warrant expires.

In scenes of high drama on Friday, Yoon Suk Yeol’s presidential guards and military troops shielded the former star prosecutor from investigators, who called off their arrest attempt citing safety concerns.

The South Korean president was impeached and suspended last month after the bungled martial law declaration — a political move swiftly overturned by parliament — with a separate warrant later issued for his arrest.

“There was a standoff. While we estimated the personnel blocking us to be around 200, there could have been more,” an official from the investigation team said Friday on condition of anonymity.

“It was a dangerous situation.”

Yoon faces criminal charges of insurrection, one of a few crimes not subject to presidential immunity, meaning he could be sentenced to prison or, at worst, the death penalty.

If the warrant is carried out, Yoon would become the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested.

– Arrest showdown –

Since his impeachment, Yoon has holed up in his presidential residence in the capital Seoul, where he has refused to emerge for questioning three times.

The unprecedented showdown — which reportedly included clashes but no shots fired — left the arrest attempt by investigators in limbo with the court-ordered warrant set to expire on Monday.

Officials from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), probing Yoon over his martial law decree, could make another bid to arrest him before then.

But if the warrant lapses, they may apply for another.

The Constitutional Court slated January 14 for the start of Yoon’s impeachment trial, which if he does not attend would continue in his absence.

Former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye never appeared for their impeachment trials.

Yoon’s lawyers decried Friday’s arrest attempt as “unlawful and invalid”, and vowed to take legal action.

Two top officials from Yoon’s presidential security service also refused a police request to appear for questioning on Saturday, citing the “serious nature” of protecting him, the service said in a statement sent to AFP.

Experts said investigators could wait for greater legal justification before attempting to arrest the suspended president again.

“It may be challenging to carry out the arrest until the Constitutional Court rules on the impeachment motion and strips him of the presidential title,” Chae Jin-won of Humanitas College at Kyung Hee University told AFP.