South Korea’s investigating authorities have requested an extension of a warrant to arrest the country’s impeached President, Yoon Suk Yeol.
The corruption investigation office for high-ranking officials (CIO) made the application at Seoul western district court on Monday, January 6, 2025.
On Friday, January 3, 2025, the CIO had failed again to serve an arrest warrant on Yoon over his declaration of martial law on December 3, 2024 after presidential security service guards formed a human chain to prevent access to him.
The arrest warrant, the first for a sitting President, was due to expire at midnight on Monday (15:00 GMT).
Yoon is under criminal investigation for possible insurrection over his brief, six-hour martial law declaration, which plunged one of Asia’s strongest democracies into uncharted territory.
The CIO, which is leading the criminal insurrection investigation into Yoon, has sent a notice to police requesting them to take over execution of the arrest warrant.
A police official said at a news briefing that police believed there was a legal dispute over such a transfer and would discuss it with the CIO.
The agency, which has faced questions about its competence after failing to detain Yoon, said that the efforts to execute the warrants would be carried out under the authority of the joint investigation team but did not clarify whether its approach would change.
Police say that they plan to make a more aggressive effort to detain Yoon at the official residence, where members of the presidential security staff were seen installing barbed wire near the gate and along the hills leading up to the building.
A police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity per department rules, told reporters there were discussions with the anti-corruption agency on whether to arrest members of the presidential security staff if they forcefully obstruct efforts to detain Yoon.
When asked about the possibility of deploying police special task forces, the official said “all available options” were being reviewed.
If investigators manage to detain Yoon, they will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.
Meanwhile, the agency has urged the country’s acting leader, Choi Sang-mok, to instruct the presidential security service to comply with the execution of the detainment warrant.
Choi is yet to publicly comment on the issue.
Yoon’s lawyer Criticises CIO
On Monday, Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon, said that the attempt to transfer the execution of the arrest warrant was effectively an admission by the CIO that its investigation and the warrant were “illegal”
The unprecedented attempt to arrest an incumbent president has intensified duelling rallies by those supporting Yoon, with the “Stop the Steal” slogans popularised by Donald Trump voters, and those calling for Yoon’s punishment.
Yoon’s lawyers on Monday filed complaints with public prosecutors against the anti-corruption agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, and six other anti-corruption and police officers for orchestrating Friday’s detainment attempt, which they claim was illegal.
The lawyers also filed complaints against the country’s acting national police chief, the acting defense minister and two Seoul police officials for ignoring the presidential security service’s request to provide additional forces to block the detention attempt.
The lawyers said that they also plan to file complaints against some 150 anti-corruption and police investigators who were involved in Friday’s detention attempt.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued the detention and search warrants against the president 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 Yoon.
They also argue the anti-corruption office lacks the legal authority to investigate rebellion charges and delegate police to detain Yoon.
Yoon’s lawyers argued that the CIO anti-graft force has no authority under South Korean law to investigate any case involving insurrection accusations.
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