SEOUL, South Korea (news agencies) — The top aide of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol pleaded with law enforcement on Tuesday to abandon their efforts to detain him over last month’s martial law imposition, as authorities prepared a second attempt to take him into custody.
In his statement, presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said Yoon could instead be questioned at a “third site” or at his residence and claimed that the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a “South American drug cartel.”
However, Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Chung issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plans to make the president available for questioning by investigators.
Yoon Suk Yeol has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining Yoon after a nearly six-hour standoff on Jan. 3.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police pledged more forceful measures to detain Yoon while they jointly investigate whether Yoon’s brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. The National Police Agency has convened multiple meetings of field commanders in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan the detainment efforts and the size of those forces fueled speculation that more than a thousand officers could be deployed in a possible multiday operation. The agency and police have openly warned that presidential bodyguards obstructing the execution of the warrant could be arrested on site.
The anti-corruption agency and police haven’t confirmed when they would return to the presidential residence, which has been fortified with barbed wire and rows of vehicles blocking paths. But Chung said he understood “D-day” to be Wednesday, without specifying the information he had.
Anti-corruption agency and police officials met with representatives of the presidential security service Tuesday morning for unspecified discussions regarding efforts to execute the detention warrant for Yoon, the agency said. It wasn’t immediately clear whether they any kind of compromise was reached.
The country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, had raised concerns on Monday about potential clashes between authorities and the presidential security service, which, despite a court warrant for Yoon’s detention, has insisted it’s obligated to protect the president.
The anti-corruption agency and police have “completed preparations for a siege,” Chung said. “They are ready to tear down the walls at any moment and handcuff President Yoon Suk Yeol, who remains isolated in his residence in Hannam-dong and forcibly remove him,” he added, accusing investigators of trying to humiliate the president.
“Thousands of citizens are staying up through the night in front of the presidential residence, vowing to protect the president. If a conflict were to break out between the police and citizens, an unimaginable tragedy could occur.”
Over the past two weeks, thousands of anti-Yoon and pro-Yoon supporters have gathered daily at competing rallies near Yoon’s office in Seoul, anticipating another detention attempt. Yoon’s lawyers have claimed that images of him being dragged out in handcuffs could trigger a huge backlash from his supporters and spark a “civil war” in a country deeply divided over ideological and generational lines.
Yoon made a short-lived declaration of martial law and deployed troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, which lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and voted to lift the measure.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 and accused him of rebellion. His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.
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