Investigators have until Monday evening, January 6, to execute the arrest warrant issued against former President Yoon Suk-yeol, removed from office last month after an attempted coup. Called to answer questions raised by his brief imposition of martial law, the head of the deposed state lives holed up at his home in Seoul, protected by thousands of supporters and a personal guard who blocks access to his residence.
Several investigations opened, including one for “rebellion”
The 64-year-old former magistrate is the subject of several investigations, including one opened for “rebellion”. Yoon Suk-yeol is accused of having shaken South Korean democracy on the night of December 3 to 4, by attempting to impose martial law for “eliminate elements hostile to the State”. By establishing “a legislative dictatorship”, he would have wanted “protect liberal South Korea from threats posed by North Korean communist forces”. A diatribe with Cold War overtones harking back to the dark years of the dictatorships of Generals Park Chung-hee and Chun Doo-hwan in the 1970s and 1980s.
In a Parliament surrounded by soldiers, the deputies were numerous enough to adopt a motion demanding the lifting of the state of exception. Under pressure from these elected officials and thousands of demonstrators, the president had to comply a few hours later. On December 14, the National Assembly voted for his dismissal, leading, initially, to his suspension. An interim head of state has been appointed, although Yoon Suk-yeol officially remains the titular president pending a decision by the Constitutional Court.
The role of the presidential guard in question
On Friday, during a first arrest attempt, Yoon Suk-yeol’s guard refused access to the deposed president’s residence. Comply with the arrest warrant “would amount to abandoning our duties”certified Park Jong-joon, the head of the presidential guard, during a speech on Sunday. In his eyes, the order is invalid.
Park Jong-joon also dismissed claims that his team has become the “personal militia” of the ex-president. Yoon Suk-yeol’s legal team does not admit defeat. If a first appeal against the arrest warrant filed with the Seoul Central Court was rejected, other legal steps are being studied.
Present at his trial?
According to his lawyer, Yoon Suk-yeol, however, plans to appear at his trial “to give one’s point of view”. The Court has, at this stage, fixed five sessions between January 14 and February 4. Neither Park Geun-hye nor Roh Moo-hyun, the two former presidents to have been involved in such proceedings, attended their trials. The first was definitively dismissed and then imprisoned in 2017, while the second was saved by the Court, then completing his mandate in 2008.
Despite Yoon Suk-yeol’s withdrawal, political chaos persists in South Korea. The first interim president was, in turn, dismissed after Christmas, with deputies accusing him of obstructing the procedures against his predecessor. Minister of Finance from Yoon Suk-yeol, Choi Sang-mok inherited his functions. According to a prosecutor’s report, he spoke out against the coup while the president was talking about this outcome. It is in this stormy context that the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, arrived in Seoul, notably for an interview on Monday with his counterpart, Cho Tae-yul.
