SEOUL: South Korean investigators said on Wednesday (Jan 1) they would execute an arrest warrant for Yoon Suk Yeol by the deadline on Jan 6, as the impeached leader’s supporters rallied outside his residence.
Supporters and opponents of Yoon, who was suspended from office by lawmakers over his attempt to subvert civilian rule last month, have been camped outside the compound where he has been holed up for weeks, fending off investigators’ efforts to question him.
The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) requested the warrant after Yoon failed to report for questioning a third time, but it has been unclear whether they could execute it as the Presidential Security Service had previously refused to comply with search warrants.
Yoon has remained defiant and late on Wednesday appeared to suggest he would refuse to hand himself over in a statement shared with supporters camped outside his residence in Seoul.
“The Republic of Korea is currently in danger due to internal and external forces threatening its sovereignty and the activities of anti-state elements,” he said in the statement, his lawyer Yoon Kab-keun confirmed to AFP.
“I vow to fight alongside you to the very end to protect this nation,” he added, saying he was watching the hundreds-strong protest on a YouTube livestream.
Jo Seoung-lae, a lawmaker for the opposition Democratic Party said in a statement that Yoon’s message was “highly inappropriate”, calling him “delusional” and accusing him of trying to incite clashes.
CIO chief Oh Dong-woon said on Wednesday the warrant would be executed “within the deadline”, which is on Monday.
“We aim for a smooth process without major disturbances, but we are also coordinating to mobilise police and personnel in preparation,” he told reporters.
He also warned that anyone trying to block authorities from arresting Yoon could themselves face prosecution.
“We consider actions such as setting up various barricades and locking iron gates to resist the execution of our arrest warrant as obstruction of official duties,” he said.
Anyone doing this “could be prosecuted under charges of abuse of authority interfering with the exercise of rights and obstruction of official duties by special means”, he added.
Yoon’s legal team has filed for an injunction to block the warrant and claimed on Wednesday the arrest order was “an unlawful and invalid act”, lawyer Yoon Kab-keun said in a statement.
The suspended president’s die-hard supporters raced to Seoul to support him.
Outside the presidential compound, dozens of people – some in elaborate costumes – could be seen chanting, singing and hurling vitriol at police.
At one point, some attempted to break through a cordon and block a police bus from parking near the entrance – apparently mistaking it for the mobile force that may be dispatched to detain Yoon.
Police were sent to the area in large numbers and could be seen yelling at protesters to keep in line, but a route in and out of Yoon’s residence remained clear.
As night fell the pro-Yoon protesters waved glowsticks and anti-impeachment placards.
South Korean officials have previously failed to execute arrest warrants for lawmakers – in 2000 and 2004 due to party members and supporters blocking police from entering for the seven-day period the warrant was valid.
