South Korea’s impeached president has been detained after police swarmed his home in the darkness of night amid a drawn-out stand-off.
The arrest of Yoon Suk Yeol comes after supporters were locked in a stand-off with police as officers try to detain the impeached premier.
He is the country’s first sitting head of state to be detained.
‘The Joint Investigation Headquarters executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol today – January 15 – at 10:33 am,’ authorities, who are probing Yoon on insurrection charges, said in a statement.
Hundreds of police officers and investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office had streamed up the driveway to the presidential residence before dawn on Wednesday, some scaling perimeter walls and hiking up back trails to reach the main building.
It was their second effort to arrest Yoon.
A first attempt on January 3 failed after a tense hours-long standoff with members of Yoon’s official Presidential Security Service (PSS), who refused to budge when investigators tried to execute their warrant.
Yoon’s lawyer announced on Wednesday morning the president had agreed to speak to investigators and that he had decided to leave the residence to prevent a “serious incident”.
The impeached president lunged the country into political chaos last month over his botched attempt to declare martial law, which triggered political chaos engulfing Asia‘s fourth-largest economy and a key US ally.
The leader earlier was holed up in the presidential residence, surrounded by hundreds of loyal security officers.
Dramatic photographs showed police laying siege to the property by cutting through the barbed wire perimeter, before trekking up the hill towards the waiting president.
Over the last week thousands have protested outside his gates, with an arrest warrant for alleged insurrection expiring at midnight on Monday and many demanding his immediate arrest.
Dramatic photographs have since shown police laying siege to the property by cutting through the barbed wire perimeter
Officers could then be spotted trekking up the hill towards the waiting president
Yoon Suk Yeol lunged the country into political chaos last month over his botched attempt to declare martial law
Investigators from the police make their way to the official residence of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeo
Police officers gather in front of the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
A person adjusts barbed wire between vehicles blocking the entrance to the compound of the presidential residence
Police officers walk toward the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
Security guards (rear) are on standby at the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
Now the country’s law enforcement have massed outside the property in the capital Seoul as they attempt to detain him for a second time.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Yoon´s brief martial law declaration on December 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion.
They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on January 3.
Despite a court warrant for Yoon´s detention, the presidential security service has insisted it´s obligated to protect the impeached president and has fortified the compound with barbed wire and rows of buses blocking paths.
Vehicles from the anti-corruption agency were spotted near the residence, while rows of police officers dressed in black jackets were observed approaching its gate.
TV footage showed lawmakers from Yoon´s People Power Party, along with at least one of his lawyers, lined up near the residence´s gate, apparently arguing with anti-corruption officials and police officers attempting to enter.
Hundreds of Yoon´s supporters and critics held competing protests near the residence – one side vowing to protect him, the other calling for his imprisonment – while thousands of police officers in yellow jackets closely monitored the situation, setting up perimeters with buses.
Insurrection, one of a few crimes not subject to presidential immunity, means he could be sentenced to prison or, at worst, the death penalty.
If the warrant is executed, Yoon would become the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested.
Yoon´s top aide pleaded with law enforcement agencies yesterday to abandon their efforts to detain him.
Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said Yoon could instead be questioned at a ‘third site’ or at his residence and said the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a ‘South American drug cartel.’
A police vehicle arrives at the entrance of the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
Police officers patrol near the residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
Police officers stand in front of the gate of the presidential residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul, South Korea
Police officers patrol near the residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol
People gather outside the official residence of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, as authorities, including the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, are seeking to execute an arrest warrant
But Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president´s lawyers, said Chung issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plan to make the president available for questioning by investigators.
If investigators manage to detain Yoon Suk Yeol, they will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.
Yoon has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining him after a nearly six-hour standoff on January 3.
The National Police Agency has convened multiple meetings of field commanders in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan their detainment efforts and the size of those forces fueled speculation that more than a thousand officers could be deployed in a possible multiday operation.
The agency and police have openly warned that presidential bodyguards obstructing the execution of the warrant could be arrested.
Yoon declared martial law and deployed troops around the National Assembly on December 3. It lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and vote to lift the measure.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on December 14, accusing him of rebellion.
His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.