South Korean presidential guards and the military blocked the execution of an arrest warrant for Yun Seok Yeol, so the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) suspended the arrest. The standoff lasted five hours.
Yonhap and Reuters write about this.
The CIO representatives arrived at the gates of the presidential residence and entered, where they were met by over 200 security guards and soldiers who formed several layers of human chains to block CIO and the police. Therefore, the latter did not reach Yun Seok Yeol.
Over a thousand protesters supporting Yun Seok Yeol also gathered outside the residence. They chanted that the arrest warrant for the president was illegal and called for the arrest of CIO.
The arrest warrant for Yoon, issued by the court after he ignored numerous summonses to appear for questioning, is valid until January 6.
The Office expressed "serious regret" over the behavior of the suspect, who "refused to follow the procedures established by law". CIO will be notified of further actions at a later date.
What preceded
South Korean President Yoon Seok Yeol declared martial law in the country on the night of December 3-4 to “protect the constitutional order” — the first time since the 1980s. The reason was that the opposition Democratic Party of South Korea, which has a majority in parliament, rejected the government’s budget proposal and decided to impeach the state auditor and the attorney general.
In total, martial law lasted about six hours, but it caused a sharp internal crisis — now the president is being called to resign. On December 8, he was informed of suspicion of treason and abuse of power and banned from traveling abroad.
On December 14, the South Korean parliament supported a bill to impeach President Yun Seok Yeol.
- Yoon Seok Yeol has low approval ratings in the country, in particular due to rising food and housing prices, labor conflicts and a sharp decline in the birth rate. The presidentʼs reputation has also been under attack due to a hidden camera video showing First Lady Kim Geun Hee allegedly accepting a $2 200 Dior bag as a gift.
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