Demonstration in front of Yoon Suk Yeol’s home.Image: www.imago-images.de
Facing a presidential security service that wanted nothing to do with it, the South Korean authorities were unable to arrest Yoon Suk Yeol on time. A delay will be requested from the courts.
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The anti-corruption agency responsible for investigating martial law in South Korea announced Monday that it would ask the courts for additional time to arrest ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol. He was unable to stop it in the originally allotted time frame.
The arrest warrant issued on December 31 by a Seoul court expires Monday at midnight (4 p.m. in Switzerland). “We intend to request an extension today, which requires indicating the reasons for exceeding the standard seven-day deadline,” the deputy director of the Corruption Investigation Bureau said Monday morning at a press briefing. of senior personalities (CIO), Lee Jae-seung.
The CIO asked the police to take charge of this arrest “given their expertise in executing arrest warrants,” he added. Police did not immediately respond to this request.
Left empty-handed
On Friday, CIO investigators supported by police officers entered the president’s residence to apprehend him. But they came up against an army unit and agents of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) outnumbering them twice as much. They had to retreat, empty-handed, after six hours of tense face to face.
Image: www.imago-images.de
Lee also said the IOC sent a letter to Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Saturday “demanding cooperation from the Presidential Security Service regarding the mandate.” “But we have not received a response,” he lamented.
Former star prosecutor elected in 2022, Yoon Suk Yeol, was dismissed by the National Assembly on December 14. He is the target of an investigation for “rebellion”, a crime punishable by death, for having introduced martial law by surprise on December 3 and sending the army to Parliament to muzzle him, before reversing course shortly after. under pressure from deputies and thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
“We will come back”
Like every day since December 31, hundreds of unconditional supporters of Yoon were present Monday morning, in the mist, near the home of the deposed president, ready to fight in the event of a new arrest attempt by the IOC, saw AFP journalists on site. They were watched by many police officers
“The Presidential Security Service will protect the president, and we will protect the Presidential Security Service until midnight. If they get a new arrest warrant, we will come back.”
Kim Soo-yong, 62, one of the rally organizers
Around thirty deputies from the People’s Power Party (PPP), Mr. Yoon’s right-wing party, arrived at dawn at the presidential residence, near which around fifty detractors of the deposed president were also demonstrating.
“The IOC is one of the most incompetent agencies I have ever seen. I have been here longer than the IOC. It doesn’t make sense that they can’t do it. They must stop it immediately,” said one of these demonstrators, Kim Ah-young, in her thirties.
Filing a complaint
This psychodrama takes place at a time when American Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Seoul, the first stop on a farewell tour which will also take him to Japan and France. His schedule does not include any meeting with Yoon.
Yoon’s lawyers argue that the arrest warrant is “invalid and illegal.” Their appeal against the mandate was rejected by a Seoul court, but they indicated their intention to appeal.
The head of the Presidential Security Service, Park Jong-jun, invoked this argument on Sunday to justify his refusal to allow Yoon to be arrested.
On Sunday, one of the lawyers of the deposed president, Yoon Kab-keun, also announced the filing of a complaint against the head of the IOC.
South Korea’s Constitutional Court, which has until mid-June to confirm or overturn the impeachment of Mr. Yoon voted by Parliament on December 14, announced that hearings would begin on January 14. In the meantime, Yoon, suspended, officially remains the country’s president. (ats)
