SEOUL (AFP) – South Korean investigators trying to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol have less than 24 hours before their warrant expires Monday, with the embattled leader holed out in his residence surrounded by loyal security forces.
The former star prosecutor has defiantly refused questioning three times before a failed arrest attempt saw hundreds of his protective guards block investigators trying to detain him over a bungled martial law decree last month.
The tense, hours-long standoff left it unclear if investigators would try to make their move again before the warrant expires at the end of Monday (1500 GMT), but the Yonhap news agency said they were considering another attempt.
Yoon faces prison or, at worst, the death penalty if arrested after briefly suspending civilian rule and plunging South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades, but both he and his supporters have remained defiant.
“The Presidential Security Service will protect the President, and we will protect the Presidential Security Service till midnight,” said Kim Soo-yong, 62, one of the protest organisers.
“If they get another warrant, we will come again.”
Under the fog of dawn, dozens of Yoon’s lawmakers from the People Power Party turned up in front of his presidential residence.
Police moved to block roads in anticipation of another day of protests, as dozens for and against Yoon from the previous day braved sub-zero conditions after camping out overnight.
“I’ve been here longer than the CIO (Corruption Investigation Office) now. It doesn’t make sense why they can’t do it. They need to arrest him immediately,” anti-Yoon protest organiser Kim Ah-young, in her 30s, said.
If the seven-day warrant expires, investigators would have to apply for another one, which would likely be granted by a court of their choosing on the same grounds the initial warrant was issued — that Yoon has refused to emerge for questioning over his martial law decree.
Yoon’s lawyers have repeatedly said that the warrant is “unlawful” and “illegal”, pledging to take further legal action against it.
The head of Yoon’s presidential security service also said Sunday he would not allow investigators to arrest the suspended president.
But the vibrant East Asian democracy will find itself in uncharted territory either way — its sitting president will have been arrested, or he would have evaded court-ordered detention.
