Seoul:

Lawyers of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) probing his short-lived martial law decree on December 3 are at odds over whether the CIO has the authority to arrest and pursue criminal charges against him.

Here is what we know so far:

WHO ARE THE INVESTIGATORS?

The CIO is leading a joint investigation team involving police and the defence ministry seeking charges of insurrection and abuse of power against Yoon among others, while prosecutors carry out their own probe.

The CIO was launched in January 2021 as an independent anti-graft agency to investigate high-ranking officials, including the president, and their family members as part of efforts to keep prosecutors in check.

But its investigating and prosecuting rights are limited. It does not have the authority to prosecute the president and is required to refer the case to the prosecutors’ office to take any action, including indictment, once the questioning is over.

WHAT IS YOON’S ARGUMENT?

Yoon’s lawyers have said that the CIO does not have the authority to handle his case as the law stipulates a wide-ranging list of high-ranking officials and violations it can investigate, but has no mention of insurrection.

The lawyers also said that an arrest warrant granted by a Seoul district court was unconstitutional because it specified that the warrant was exempt from two clauses of the Criminal Procedure Act that limits seizure and search of a place subject to confidential military information, or a public official possessing official secrets, without providing legal grounds.

Yoon’s team has filed a complaint and an injunction with the Constitutional Court to review the warrant’s legitimacy, though the Seoul Western District Court which issued the warrant rejected a similar complaint on Sunday.

On Friday, the presidential security service and military guards blocked CIO investigators from arresting Yoon in a six-hour standoff. The security service’s chief, Park Chong-jun, said on Sunday that the security service could not cooperate on the warrant, citing the legal debate over the CIO’s investigative rights and the warrant’s validity.

WHAT IS THE POSITION OF THE CIO, POLICE?

The CIO has said it has secured the rights to take on Yoon’s case by obtaining the arrest warrant, and the two clauses of the Criminal Procedure Act do not apply because the warrant was limited to arresting him, not seizing his possessions.

But the agency said on Monday it has requested police to take over execution of the warrant, based on its consideration that “such a serious case as this one should not leave even the slightest possibility of controversy.”

A police official acknowledged that there was a legal dispute over such a transfer and that police officials would discuss it with the CIO.

Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon, said the bid to transfer execution of the warrant is effectively an admission by the CIO that its probe and the warrant were “illegal”.

WHAT DO COURTS SAY?

The Constitutional Court said on Thursday that it will begin reviewing the complaint and injunction filed by Yoon’s lawyers as soon as a justice is assigned.

The Seoul Western District Court, dismissing a similar complaint on Sunday, said that it was not illegal for the CIO to handle Yoon’s case as allegations of insurrection are included in abuse of power charges covered by the agency.

It also said the warrant’s exemption from the two Criminal Procedure Act clauses appear to confirm that any search that might entail was aimed at arresting the defendant, not seizing his belongings, and it was not unconstitutional for a judge to specify that when approving a warrant.

Yoon’s lawyers criticised the court’s statement as “sophistry” and said they will consider appealing the decision to a higher court.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hundreds of South Koreans, bundled up against freezing temperatures and snow, rallied overnight into Sunday (January 5, 2025) near the residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, calling for his ouster and arrest, as authorities prepared to renew their efforts to detain him over his short-lived martial law decree.

Dozens of anti-corruption agency investigators and police attempted to execute a detainment warrant against Mr. Yoon on Friday but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours.

The one-week warrant for his detention is valid through Monday. There were no immediate indications that anti-corruption authorities were ready to send investigators back to the residence as of Sunday afternoon. Staff from the presidential security service were seen installing barbed wire near the gate and along the hills leading up to Mr. Yoon’s residence over the weekend, possibly in preparation for another detention attempt.

A Seoul court last Tuesday issued a warrant to detain Mr. Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after the embattled President repeatedly defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning and obstructing searches of his office. But enforcing them is complicated as long as Mr. Yoon remains in his official residence.

Investigators from the country’s anti-corruption agency are weighing charges of rebellion after the conservative President, apparently frustrated that his policies were blocked by a legislature dominated by the liberal opposition, declared martial law on Dec. 3 and dispatched troops to surround the National Assembly.

The Assembly overturned the declaration within hours in a unanimous vote and impeached Mr. Yoon on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion, while South Korean anti-corruption authorities and public prosecutors opened separate investigations into the events.

If the anti-corruption agency manages to detain Mr. Yoon, it will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, Mr. Yoon will be released after 48 hours.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military investigators, says detaining Mr. Yoon would be “virtually impossible” as long as he is protected by the presidential security service. The agency has urged the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, to instruct the service to comply with their execution of the detainment warrant, but Mr. Choi has yet to publicly comment on the issue.

The chiefs and deputy chiefs of the presidential security service defied summonses on Saturday from police, who planned to question them over the suspected obstruction of official duty following Friday’s events.

Mr. Yoon’s legal team said it will file complaints against the anti-corruption agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, and approximately 150 investigators and police officers involved in Friday’s detention attempt, which they claim was unlawful. The team said it will also file complaints with public prosecutors against the country’s acting Defence Minister and police chief for ignoring the presidential security service’s request to provide additional forces to block the detention attempt.

Mr. Yoon’s lawyers had submitted an objection to the warrants against the president on Thursday, but the Seoul Western District Court dismissed the challenge on Sunday.

Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, called for the anti-corruption agency to move quickly to detain Mr. Yoon, saying it was deeply disappointing to see the agency “hesitating and letting time slip away.”

Hundreds of anti-Yoon protesters rallied for hours near the gates of the presidential residence from Saturday evening to Sunday, voicing frustration over the failed detention attempt and demanding stronger efforts to bring Mr. Yoon into custody. Separated by police barricades and buses, pro-Yoon protesters were gathering in nearby streets, denouncing his impeachment and vowing to block any efforts to detain him.

“With barely a day left before the execution deadline for Yoon Seok Yeol’s detainment warrant, the presidential security service continues to hide a criminal and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials cannot be more relaxed,” Kim Eun-jeong, an activist, said on a stage during the anti-Yoon rally.

“Angry citizens have already spent two freezing nights demanding his immediate detainment. Are their voices not being heard?”

Mr. Yoon’s lawyers have challenged the detention and search warrants against the President, saying they cannot be enforced at his residence due to a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge — which would be Mr. Yoon. They also argue the anti-corruption office lacks the legal authority to investigate rebellion charges and that police officers don’t have the legal authority to assist in detaining Mr. Yoon.

While the presidential security act mandates protection for Mr. Yoon, it does not authorize the presidential security service to block court-ordered detainments. The service’s attempts to block the execution of the warrant may amount to an obstruction of official duty, according to Park Sung-bae, an attorney specializing in criminal law. While the President mostly has immunity from prosecution while in office, the protection does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.

The agency said its outnumbered investigators had several scuffles with presidential security forces that threatened their safety and expressed “serious regret” that Mr. Yoon was not complying with the legal process.

After getting around a military unit guarding the residence’s grounds, the agency’s investigators and police were able to approach within 200 metres (yards) of Mr. Yoon’s residential building but were stopped by a barricade comprising around 10 vehicles and approximately 200 members of the presidential security forces and troops. The agency said it wasn’t able to visually confirm whether Mr. Yoon was inside the residence.

The Defence Ministry says the troops at Mr. Yoon’s official residence are under the control of the presidential security service. Kim Seon-ho, the acting Defence Minister, conveyed his concern to the presidential security service, saying that deploying military personnel to block the execution of the detention warrant would be “inappropriate” and requesting that the troops aren’t placed in a position where they might confront police, according to the ministry.

Mr. Yoon’s Defence Minister, police chief and several top military commanders have already been arrested over their roles in the period of martial law.

Mr. Yoon’s presidential powers have been suspended since the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14. Mr. Yoon’s fate now lies with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to uphold the impeachment and formally remove Mr. Yoon from office or reinstate him.

People take part in a protest against the impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near his official residence, in Seoul, South Korea, January 4, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

South Korean investigators again asked the country’s acting president on Saturday (January 4, 2025) to order the presidential security service to comply with an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

In scenes of high drama on Friday (January 3, 2025), 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 (January 3, 2025) on condition of anonymity.

“It was a dangerous situation”

Mr. 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 carried out, the warrant would make Mr. Yoon the first sitting president ever arrested.

Since his impeachment, Mr. 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 (January 6, 2025).

Officials from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), which is probing Mr. Yoon over his martial law decree, said there could be another bid to arrest him before then.

But if the warrant lapses, they would have to apply for another from the same Seoul court that issued the initial summons.

The Constitutional Court slated January 14 for the start of Mr. 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.

Mr. Yoon’s lawyers decried Friday (January 3, 2025)‘s arrest attempt as “unlawful and invalid” and vowed to take legal action.

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.

‘Stable path’

South Korean media reported that CIO officials had wanted to arrest Mr. Yoon and take him to their office in Gwacheon near Seoul for questioning.

After that, he could have been held for up to 48 hours on the existing warrant. Investigators would have needed to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.

Mr. Yoon has remained defiant despite the political impasse he initiated with his December 3 decree.

He told his right-wing supporters this week he would fight “to the very end” for his political survival.

By the time investigators attempted to execute the warrant for Mr. Yoon’s arrest, he had layered his presidential compound with hundreds of security forces to prevent it.

Around 20 investigators and 80 police officers were heavily outnumbered by around 200 soldiers and security personnel linking arms to block their way after entering the presidential compound.

A tense six-hour standoff ensued until early Friday (January 3, 2025) afternoon when the investigators were forced to U-turn for fear of violence breaking out.

The weeks of political turmoil have threatened the country’s stability.

South Korea’s key security ally, the United States, called for the political elite to work towards a “stable path” forward.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to maintaining bilateral ties and readiness to respond to “any external provocations or threats”.

Outgoing U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to hold talks in Seoul on Monday (January 6, 2025), with one eye on the political crisis and another on nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea.