Sacked presidential aide Yoon Suk Yeol urged law enforcement on Tuesday to drop their efforts to detain him under martial law last month, as authorities prepare for a second attempt to detain him.
In his statement, presidential chief Chung Jin-suk said Yoon could instead be investigated at the “third site” or where he lives and said the anti-corruption agency and the police were trying to out him as a member. “South American drug cartel.”
However, Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Chung issued this message without consulting them and the legal team has no immediate plans to make the president available for questioning by investigators.
Yoon Suk Yeol has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and presidential security forces prevented dozens of investigators from arresting Yoon after a standoff that lasted nearly six hours on Jan. 3.
The Bureau of Corruption Investigation of High-ranking Officials and the Police has promised strong measures to arrest Yoon while they jointly investigate whether Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law on 3 Dec.
Protesters attend a rally calling for the arrest of ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. The letters read “Spend Yoon Suk Yeol.” (AP Photo)
The National Police Agency has called several field commander meetings in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan arrest efforts and the size of the force has prompted speculation that more than 1,000 police could be deployed for the multi-day operation.
The agency and the police have clearly warned that the president’s bodyguards are preventing the execution of an arrest warrant in the area.
The anti-corruption agency and the police have not yet confirmed when they will return to the presidential palace, which is surrounded by barbed wire and lines of vehicles blocking the roads. But Chung said he understood “D-day” to be Wednesday, without specifying the details he had.
The anti-corruption agency and police officials met with representatives of the presidential security service on Tuesday morning for undisclosed talks about efforts to issue a warrant for Yoon’s arrest, the agency said. It was not immediately clear if any kind of consensus had been reached.
The country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, expressed concern on Monday about a potential clash between authorities and the president’s security forces, which, despite a court order for Yoon’s arrest, insisted it was responsible for protecting the president.
The anti-corruption agency and the police “have not completed preparations for the siege,” Chung said. “They are ready to tear down the walls at any time and arrest President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is still living alone in Hannam-dong and forcibly remove him,” he added, accusing investigators of trying to embarrass the president.
“Thousands of citizens stay all night in front of the president’s house, swearing to protect the president. If a conflict breaks out between the police and the citizens, an unimaginable disaster may occur.”
For the past two weeks, thousands of anti-Yoon and pro-Yoon supporters have gathered every day in rival rallies near Yoon’s office in Seoul, awaiting another arrest attempt.
Yoon’s lawyers say pictures of him being handcuffed could cause a backlash from his fans and spark a “civil war” in a country divided along ideological and kinship lines.
Yoon declared a temporary martial law and deployed troops to surround the National Assembly on December 3, which lasted several hours before lawmakers were able to pass the blockade and vote to remove the measure.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated Parliament voted to impeach him on December 14 and accused him of treason.
His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun debating whether to legally remove Yoon from office or dismiss the charges and reinstate him.
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