South Korea’s anti-corruption agency obtains new arrest warrant to arrest impeached President Yoon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s anti-corruption agency said it received a new arrest warrant Tuesday to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after his previous attempt was blocked by security services presidential elections last week.

The Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Bureau, which plans to question the embattled president over allegations of rebellion following his brief decree of martial law on Dec. 3, did not immediately confirm how long the mandate would remain valid.

The agency’s chief prosecutor, Oh Dong-woon, declined to answer when lawmakers asked him when the warrant would expire, saying the information was sensitive as the agency and police considered ways to carry it out .

Detention warrants typically last seven days, but can be extended to approximately 10 days. Oh did not say when investigators planned to make their next attempt to arrest Yoon.

Last week, the Seoul Western District Court initially issued an arrest warrant for Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after he repeatedly defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning.

About 150 anti-graft agency investigators and police tried to arrest Yoon on Friday, but retreated from his residence in Seoul after a tense standoff with presidential security that lasted more than five hours. Investigators did not attempt to arrest Yoon again and the previous arrest warrants expired after a week on Monday.

If investigators succeed in arresting Yoon, they will likely ask the court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.

The anti-graft agency and police have vowed to step up efforts to arrest Yoon, which could prove a complicated process as long as he remains at his official residence.

The anti-corruption agency is conducting a joint investigation with police and the military into Yoon’s brief takeover, which included declaring martial law and sending troops to surround the National Assembly. Lawmakers who managed to circumvent the blockade voted to lift martial law hours later.

Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on December 14, accusing him of rebellion. The Constitutional Court has begun deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.

Presidential security personnel were seen installing barbed wire near the gate and along the hills leading to the presidential complex over the weekend.

Oh confirmed to lawmakers that the agency was discussing with police whether to arrest presidential security personnel if they forcibly obstruct efforts to arrest Yoon. Police have said they are considering “all available options” to arrest Yoon and have not publicly ruled out the possibility of deploying SWAT teams, although it is unclear whether investigators would risk escalating a confrontation with the presidential security forces, which are also armed.

Park Jong-joon, head of the presidential security service, responded to criticism that he had become Yoon’s private army, saying he had a legal obligation to protect the outgoing president. He and his deputy have so far defied summons from police, who planned to question them for alleged obstruction of the exercise of their official duties following Friday’s events.

At a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Oh criticized the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, for asking police to accede to the presidential security service’s request to deploy personnel to Yoon’s residence to beef up security ahead of Friday’s attempted arrest. Police did not carry out Choi’s instructions, and Oh said the agency was investigating whether Choi’s actions constituted obstruction of his official duties.

The agency repeatedly asked Choi to order the presidential security services to comply with the execution of the arrest warrant against Yoon. Choi has not commented.

Yoon’s lawyers have argued that detention and search warrants against the president cannot be executed at his residence because of a law that protects places potentially linked to military secrets from searches without the person’s consent responsible – which would be Yoon. They also argue that the anti-corruption bureau does not have the legal authority to investigate the rebellion charges and delegate police to arrest Yoon.

Yoon’s lawyers filed complaints with prosecutors on Monday against Oh and six other anti-corruption agents and police officers following Friday’s attempted arrest, which they claim was illegal. The lawyers also filed a complaint against the acting national police chief, the acting defense minister and two Seoul police officials for ignoring the presidential security services’ request to provide additional forces to block the attempt. of Yoon’s arrest.