S. Korean investigators launch attempt to arrest President Yoon and enter his residence

A group of South Korean prosecutors and investigators of the anti-corruption investigative unit launched an attempt to arrest the impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol, multiple media outlets said Friday (Jan. 3).

The prosecutors and investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) walked into a road at the main gate leading to the presidential residence in central Seoul, TV footage showed.

The investigators were reportedly confronting agents of the presidential security service, who protect Yoon at close range inside the residence.

The CIO warned earlier that if the security service blocked the arrest, it would be a crime of obstruction of justice.

The detention warrant against Yoon was issued by a Seoul court on Tuesday to question the impeached leader over his martial law imposition on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, that was revoked by the National Assembly hours later. Yoon had been named by investigative agencies as a suspected ringleader on insurrection charge.

About 2,700 riot policemen were reportedly deployed to the residence to help proceed with the arrest warrant.

However, the chief of South Korea's presidential security service has not allowed investigators to search the presidential residence in central Seoul for the execution of a warrant to arrest President Yoon Suk-yeol that was issued by a Seoul court earlier this week.

(Source: Xinhua)

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