South Korean investigators failed in their attempt to arrest Yoon Suk Yeol after encountering resistance from the impeached president’s security and supporters during a dramatic day that deepened the country’s political crisis.
A six-hour standoff ensued after the presidential security service confronted a joint team from the police and the Corruption Investigation Office that had arrived to detain Mr Yoon shortly after 7am on Friday.
In the end, the investigators left without the president.
“Execution of the arrest warrant was virtually impossible due to the continued standoff,” the Corruption Investigation Office, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military against Mr Yoon, said.
“Future measures will be decided after a review. We express our deepest regret over the suspect’s refusal to comply with legal procedures.”
The standoff deepened the political crisis that has paralysed South Korea and seen two heads of state impeached in less than a month.
The crisis was sparked by Mr Yoon’s botched attempt to impose martial law on 3 December.
The attempt to arrest Mr Yoon came three days after a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant sought by prosecutors investigating whether the president’s shortlived declaration of martial law amounted to insurrection.
The warrant, valid until 6 January, was approved after Mr Yoon ignored multiple summons to answer charges of insurrection and abuse of power, accusations that his lawyers called “unlawful”.
As the presidential security continued to stand in the way of the investigators carrying the arrest warrant, hundreds of Mr Yoon’s supporters camped outside, shouting slogans and raising banners that read “stop the steal”.
After the investigators left, the protesters broke into a celebration. “We won,” they chanted.
The investigators said they were outnumbered by a “human wall” of around 200 security personnel and that there were “various small and large scuffles” during the standoff.
Nearly 2,700 security personnel were deployed outside Mr Yoon’s residence on Friday, state news agency Yonhap reported. They prevented about half of the 150 police and CIO officials from entering the presidential compound, and blocked the rest just inside the gate.
The defence ministry confirmed the investigators had passed a military unit guarding the palace grounds before coming up against the security service.
The security service, which guards the residence itself, declined to comment.
Seok Dong Hyeon, a lawyer for Mr Yoon, said the bid to detain the president was “reckless” and showed an “outrageous discard for law”.
Mr Yoon’s legal team filed a challenge to the warrant on Thursday arguing that it could not be executed at his residence as the law protected locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge.
Mr Yoon’s declaration of martial law on 3 December plunged the country into a political crisis, leading to widespread protests and impeachment of not only the president, but also his acting successor Han Duck Soo. The crisis also affected diplomacy and rattled financial markets.
The martial law decree, the country’s first in 40 years, ended after just six hours when the National Assembly voted to withdraw it, despite attempts by armed soldiers to prevent them from voting.
Prosecutors on Friday filed insurrection charges against army chief Park An Su, appointed the martial law commander during the shortlived declaration, as well as Special Forces Commander Kwak Jong Geun, Yonhap reported.