South Korea: new arrest warrant against ousted president Yoon Suk-yeol

South Korean justice issued a new arrest warrant on Tuesday against deposed President Yoon Suk-yeol, eagerly awaited by South Korean investigators to try a second time to apprehend the head of state suspended from office and removed in his residence in Seoul with his close guard.

The renewed arrest warrant for suspect Yoon was issued today afternooninvestigators announced in a press release. It is motivated by Yoon Suk-yeol’s brief attempt to impose martial law in the country.

The first arrest warrant, issued on December 31, expired on Monday afternoon without the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) managing to seize Mr. Yoon for questioning.

Friday, investigators CIO supported by police officers had entered his residence, but had encountered around 200 soldiers and agents of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) and had retreated, empty-handed, after six hours of a tense face-to-face.

Investigators refiled a request Monday evening with the Seoul West District Court to extend the arrest warrant.

For Yun Bok-nam, president of the Lawyers for a Democratic Society association, the failure of the first attempt to arrest the deposed president is mainly explained by the inexperience of the CIOwhich is only four years old, has fewer than 100 employees and has yet to indict anyone.

Naturally, they have no experience with arrests, let alone the arrest of a presidentstresses Me Yun. Police cooperation is essentialestimates the lawyer.

The leader of CIOOh Dong-woon, apologized on Tuesday for failing to arrest the president, while admitting he was not sure if he was still at his residence.

I’m looking at various possibilities.he commented, responding to a deputy who asked him if the suspended president had fled.

The CIOthe South Korean National Police and the Investigation Department of the Ministry of Defense are jointly investigating Yoon Suk-yeol’s attempt to impose martial law on December 3 and muzzle Parliament by sending the army there.

Fortress

After the new arrest warrant was announced, supporters of Mr. Yoon immediately announced their intention to support him in front of his residence.

We are now heading towards Yoon’s residence. Those who live in the countryside will join us early in the morningRhee Kang-san, 35, told AFP.

According to opposition lawmaker Youn Kun-young, the presidential residence is turning into a fortresswith, according to him, guards installing barbed wire there.

The deposed conservative president, whose political action was constantly hampered by a Parliament dominated by the opposition, had claimed to want to protect the country from North Korean communist forces et eliminate elements hostile to the state.

But he had to backtrack a few hours later, the deputies having managed to meet in a hemicycle surrounded by special forces to vote against martial law, while thousands of demonstrators gathered outside.

We will stick together in this fight. I really hope Mr. Yoon is arrestedcommented Tuesday, full of hope, Bae Hoon, 46, who spent two nights in front of the presidential residence despite freezing temperatures.

Pending the decision of the Constitutional Court

Mr. Yoon was impeached on December 14 by the National Assembly. He is also the subject of a complaint for rebelliona crime punishable by death, and abuse of authoritypunishable by five years in prison.

Mr. Yoon vowed last week to beat to the end.

His lawyers contest the legality of the arrest warrant and the jurisdiction of the CIO. They argue that the law gives this body authority to investigate a specific series of offenses committed by high-ranking officials, but that the list does not include the crime of rebellion.

Yoon Suk-yeol officially remains the head of state and is only suspended until the Constitutional Court confirms or overturns his dismissal voted by the deputies.

The Court has until mid-June to rule and has set January 14 as the start of the impeachment trial, which in the event of Mr. Yoon’s absence will continue without him. If it validates the impeachment, a snap presidential election will take place within two months.