South Korea, Jan 15: South Korea’s impeached president, Yoon Suk Yeol, has been arrested and is to undergo questioning over his ill-fated declaration of martial law last month, anti-corruption investigators said on Wednesday, bringing to an end an early-morning standoff outside his official residence in Seoul.
Yoon remained defiant, however, saying he had agreed to cooperate with anti-corruption authorities to “avoid bloodshed” after the latest chapter in a saga that has rocked South Korean politics and triggered concern among its allies. Yoon said the rule of law had “completely collapsed” after his detention.
“President Yoon has decided to personally appear at the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) today,” his lawyer Seok Dong-hyeon said on Facebook, adding that the impeached leader would also make a speech. But investigators announced shortly after that Yoon had been arrested.
Reports said a convoy of vehicles, one of which was presumably carrying Yoon, had left the presidential residence and later arrived at the offices of the anti-corruption agency heading the probe. His detention makes him the first sitting president in the nation’s history to be arrested.
Investigators had entered Yoon’s residence early on Wednesday in a fresh attempt to execute a warrant for his arrest over allegations that his declaration of martial law amounted to insurrection – a crime that can come with life imprisonment or even the death penalty.
Yoon has been holed up inside his residence protected by an armed security detail since his impeachment in mid-December.
Earlier there were fears that the latest attempt to arrest Yoon could end in a repeat of a tense standoff earlier this month, when investigators were blocked from detaining the suspended president by the presidential security service.
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In a morning of high drama, an unarmed team of investigators from the CIO and police officers had tried to enter the residential compound but were blocked by unidentified personnel at the entrance gate, according to eyewitness accounts. Investigators were involved in clashes with those defending the residence.
TV footage then showed about 20 personnel believed to be investigators climbing ladders into Yoon’s residential compound. Images showed scores of officers with “police” and “CIO” marked on their backs inside the compound.
Police denied a report by the news agency Yonhap that they had arrested the acting head of the presidential guard.
Earlier video footage showed investigating officers from the CIO trying to push through a crowd of Yoon’s supporters gathered outside his hillside villa in Seoul
“The execution of the presidential arrest warrant has begun,” acting President Choi Sang-mok said in a statement early on Wednesday. “This situation is a crucial moment for maintaining order and the rule of law in South Korea.”
The investigating officials said they would detain anyone who tried to block their bid to execute a new warrant, Yonhap news agency reported.
Investigators were also attempting to enter the residence via an alternative mountain hiking trail, according to Yonhap News TV.
Yoon’s lawyer wrote on Facebook that negotiations were under way for the president to voluntarily appear because of the “risk of a serious situation” between the rival forces.
At least one person was injured during the standoff. They were transported away from the scene by fire authorities.
Streets around the compound were sealed off with police buses and thousands of officers were present.
But crowds of Yoon supporters, most of them elderly, were gathered near the residence gates and around makeshift stages hosting speeches describing the arrest warrant “fake” and calling for the arrest of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung.
Braving the freezing early morning, many held up red light sticks, US flags and banners in both Korean and English, including “Stop the steal” and “CCP out”, embracing unfounded claims of electoral manipulation and alleged Chinese interference – despite the fact that no major election observers or courts have raised concerns about last April’s parliamentary vote that saw the opposition secure a decisive victory.Nearby, a smaller group of pro-impeachment protesters, kept apart from Yoon’s supporters by a police cordon, was chanting “Enter! Enter! Arrest him!”
Activists on both sides had set up tea stations and were distributing heat packs.
Han Chang-min, a lawmaker of the minor opposition Social Democratic party came to monitor the situation on the ground and prevent any physical clashes. He told the Guardian he believed the arrest would be executed successfully today “without physical confrontation” as police had made sufficient preparations.
“While it’s unclear how the hardliners in the security service are building their final defensive line, the security staff aren’t responding as aggressively as the public feared. The police are proceeding with the execution while trying to get maximum cooperation.”
Yoon’s short-lived power grab left him facing arrest, imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.
He plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades after sending soldiers to storm parliament, shaking the vibrant east Asian democracy and briefly lurching it back to the dark days of military rule.If the court-ordered warrant is successfully executed, Yoon would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
But a first attempt to arrest Yoon on 3 January failed after a tense hours-long standoff with his presidential guards, who refused to budge when investigators tried to execute their warrant.
A joint team of the CIO and police have since secured a new warrant and massed as many as 1,000 personnel for Wednesday’s attempt to detain Yoon, according to local media reports.
