South Korea Presidential security chief says must be ‘no bloodshed’ over Yoon arrest

Security guards stand outside the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea January 10, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korea’s Presidential security chief said Friday (January 10, 2025) that there must be no bloodshed if investigators try again to execute an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid.

Yoon has refused questioning and last week resisted arrest in a tense stand-off between his security team and investigators after his short-lived power grab plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.

“I understand many citizens are concerned about the current situation where government agencies are in conflict and confrontation,” presidential security service chief Park Chong-jun told reporters Friday.

“I believe that under no circumstances should there be physical clashes or bloodshed,” he added before being questioned at the Korean National Police Agency.

Investigators secured a new arrest warrant for Yoon this week after an initial seven-day order expired on Monday, with several hundred of his supporters braving sub-zero temperatures to rush to the presidential residence.

Rival protesters have either called for Yoon’s impeachment to be declared invalid or for him to be detained immediately. Yoon would become the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested if investigators are able to detain him.

Yoon’s legal team have said they will not comply with the current warrant. The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) has declared that it would “prepare thoroughly” for the second arrest attempt.