Why the arrest warrant for ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol could not be executed this Friday ?

After a dramatic six-hour standoff with security services, South Korean police halted an attempt to arrest ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday, January 3, 2025.

South Korean investigators failed to arrest former President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday, as members of the presidential security service and the military opposed them during a tense six-hour standoff inside his Seoul residence.

Yoon Suk-yeol, who imposed martial law in early December before retracting his order, is under criminal investigation for charges of attempted insurrection. He was impeached and suspended from office in December.

“It was deemed virtually impossible to execute the arrest warrant due to the current impasse,”, the Anti-Corruption Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) said in a statement.

CIO investigators and police also faced off against hundreds of Yoon Suk-yeol supporters who gathered at dawn near his residence on Friday, vowing to prevent the arrest “at the risk of their lives”. IOC officials arrived at Yoon Suk-yeol's residence at 7:00 a.m. Friday (2200 GMT Thursday) and waited before entering the compound on foot.

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Once inside the compound, the IOC and police were confronted by members of the Presidential Security Service (PSS), as well as troops assigned to the presidential security, an IOC official told reporters. More than 200 PSS officers and soldiers blocked the IOC officers and police, he added.

A scuffle ensued and PSS officers appeared to be carrying firearms, but no weapons were drawn, he said. Yoon Suk-yeol was not seen during the clash, he added. South Korea's Defense Ministry said the troops were under the control of the PSS.

The IOC halted the attempt to arrest Yoon Suk-yeol around 1:30 p.m. due to concerns over the safety of its personnel. It said “deeply regret” that Yoon Suk-yeol did not comply.

Obstruction ?

The IOC also said it was considering what action to take next. Police, part of the joint investigation team, named the PSS chief and his deputy as suspects in a criminal case of obstructing the performance of an official function and summoned them for questioning on Saturday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Insurrection is one of the few charges that do not allow the South Korean president to claim immunity. The arrest warrant for Yoon Suk-yeol, approved by a court on Tuesday after he ignored multiple summons, is valid until January 6.

In a statement released after the operation to arrest Yoon Suk-yeol was suspended, the former president's legal team said the IOC had no authority to investigate the uprising and that it was regrettable that the agency had attempted to carry out an illegal warrant in a security-sensitive area.

The presidential office also filed a criminal complaint against three broadcasters and YouTube channel owners for filming the presidential residence without permission, calling it a “secure site directly related to national security.”.

The current warrant gives investigators just 48 hours to detain Yoon Suk-yeol after his arrest. Investigators must then decide whether to seek a detention warrant or release him.

Kim Seon-taek, a law professor at Korea University, said targeting PSS leaders could allow investigators to undermine the agency's resilience so they could try to execute the warrant against the former president again.

It would be better, he said, for incumbent President Choi Sang-mok to exercise his power to order the PSS to cooperate. The IOC later said it would ask Choi Sang-mok to issue the order.