SEOUL — Seoul Western District Court docket on Tuesday night time reissued a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Corruption Investigation Workplace chief, Oh Dong-woon, mentioned throughout a parliament listening to that they might “totally put together for the execution of arrest, as if it was the final probability.”
The trouble to detain Yoon got here after a South Korean court docket issued an arrest and search warrant on Dec. 31 over his short-lived imposition of martial regulation, ABC Information confirmed. Yoon has been suspended from his place since Dec. 14.
A normal view exhibits the presidential residence of impeached South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 8, 2025.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Yoon’s lawyer instructed reporters Wednesday that he’s nonetheless at his residence and is drastically dissatisfied to listen to rumors saying he had fled. Opposition lawmakers had unfold these rumors, the lawyer mentioned.
To organize for one more arrest try, the President’s Secret Service heightened surveillance close to the Presidential residence, including extra chains to the barbed wire fence and blocking autos.
Yoon’s lawyer mentioned he nonetheless strongly believes that the CIO’s execution of the arrest warrant is illegitimate, because the CIO lacks the authority to analyze riot. He additionally identified that the Seoul Western District Court docket, which reissued the arrest warrant, has no jurisdiction. However, he instructed reporters, the impeached president would stand trial if he have been to be indicted.
1000’s had gathering on Sunday, a day earlier than one other arrest warrant for Yoon expired, close to impeached the presidential residence
Safety personnel conduct checks on the entrance gate contained in the compound of the presidential residence of impeached South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol, as seen from a hill in Seoul on Jan. 8, 2025.
Jung Yeon-je/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Protesters from each side — one calling the warrant invalid or unlawful and the opposite shouting for arrest — have occupied the large four-lane highway in a usually quiet neighborhood, blocking all visitors, in freezing temperatures and snow.
Yoon declared martial regulation in a televised speech on Dec. 3. The president mentioned the measure was essential because of the actions of the nation’s liberal opposition, the Democratic Social gathering, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the federal government.
A supporter of impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol stands subsequent to an extendable police barrier in entrance of an image of Yoon displayed on a big monitor, expressing Korean phrases of encouragement for Yoon, throughout a rally close to his residence in Seoul on Jan. 8, 2025.
Anthony Wallace/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Animosity has been sky-high between the 2 sides, after over 100 investigators from the CIO anti-corruption company and the police retreated from the residence after a tense standoff with the presidential safety service.
Yoon’s die-hard supporters have been tenting on the road vowing to guard him from “pro-North Korean forces about to steal away the presidency.” Anti-Yoon protesters who’re backing of the opposition social gathering declare that Yoon have to be jailed for riot.
ABC Information’ Joohee Cho and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
