Thousands of South Koreans demonstrated on Saturday, January 4, in Seoul in an increasingly chaotic political context, the day after an unsuccessful attempt to arrest the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, accused of rebellion for having attempted to impose martial law early last month.
Detractors and supporters gathered separately on the avenues of the capital and in front of Mr. Yoon's home, some demanding his arrest, others the annulment of his dismissal voted by the National Assembly.
“If President Yoon is impeached and Lee Jae-myung [chef de file de l’opposition] becomes the new president, our country could be threatened with “communization” and absorption by North Korea (…). I can't let it happen”said Jang Young-hoon, a 30-year-old protester, interviewed by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
In the camp of the president's supporters, the largest South Korean inter-union (KCTU) had undertaken a march towards his residence, but the police, who reported several injuries and two arrests, opposed it.
The day before, soldiers and security services blocked investigators who came to the 64-year-old former prosecutor's house to take him away, the operation launched early in the morning having been canceled after around six hours of fruitless negotiations and tensions.
The arrest of Yoon Suk Yeol, who remains president while waiting for the Constitutional Court to confirm or overturn his dismissal, adopted by deputies on December 14, would be the first of a serving South Korean head of state.
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Suspended from his functions and cloistered at home, he is accused of having shaken the young South Korean democracy on the night of December 3 to 4 by proclaiming martial law to everyone's surprise, a coup which revived the painful memory of the military dictatorship.
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In Parliament, surrounded by soldiers, a sufficient number of deputies managed to come together to vote on a motion demanding the lifting of this state of exception. Under pressure from the Assembly, thousands of demonstrators and constrained by the Constitution, Yoon Suk Yeol had to repeal it a few hours after having declared it. The unpopular head of state is the subject of several investigations, including one for rebellion, a crime theoretically punishable by death.
The decision of the Constitutional Court expected by mid-June
On Friday, the investigators who came to carry out his arrest were held in check by some 200 soldiers and presidential guards. They left around 1:30 p.m. (5:30 a.m. in Paris), under the eyes of hundreds of supporters of the president. “There were minor and major physical altercations” between the two camps, reported an official from the Bureau for the Investigation of Corruption of Senior Personalities. The agency has until Monday to execute the arrest warrant issued by the court. The issuance of this document already represented a first for a sitting South Korean president. Investigators will be able to request a new one if the first expires without being applied.
They also called on interim President Choi Sang-mok to support the current mandate in a statement released on Saturday.
For its part, the Constitutional Court set January 14 for the opening of the impeachment trial of Yoon Suk Yeol, which will continue its course even without him. The court must rule by mid-June. Mr. Yoon has so far ignored all summons linked to his coup and his guard has obstructed several searches. On Saturday, two officials responsible for his protection refused to appear before the police, citing nature “serious” of their mission, according to a press release from the presidential security service sent to AFP.
Mr. Yoon's lawyers denounce, for their part, an attempted arrest “illegal” and promised to initiate proceedings to challenge it. The president whose powers were suspended remains convinced of the merits of his decision at the beginning of December, despite the serious political disorder it caused, the first interim president having also been dismissed before Choi Sang took office. -mok.
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In a letter distributed Wednesday to his most radical supporters, gathered in large numbers outside his home, Mr. Yoon promised to “beat until the very end” and once again attacked the internal and external elements “threatening” South Korea, which he had already called into question by declaring martial law.
The head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, is expected in South Korea on Monday to meet his counterpart, Cho Tae-yul, and “reaffirm the unshakeable alliance” between Washington and Seoul, according to the US State Department. Discussions are also expected to focus on the ongoing unrest and the threat posed by North Korea.
