The chief investigator handling insurrection and power abuse case of President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that the Yoon’s arrest will be conducted before the court-issued warrant expires, warning the presidential security team to cooperate with the legal actions.
“We (the investigators) will exercise our rights on the warrants for arrest and search (on Yoon), in accordance with the principles,” said Oh Dong-woon, the head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials. He added that the CIO is discussing when to make the arrest, but said that it will be conducted before the warrant expires after Jan. 6.
The CIO has requested the Presidential Security Service to cooperate with the imminent arrest, the agency’s chief said. Oh warned that those who interfere with the arrest could be accused of power abuse and obstruction of the performance of official duties, both of which are subject to criminal investigation.
The head investigator said refusing to open the door to the presidential residence, locking the gates, setting up a barricade and not complying with the arrest order all count as obstruction of official duties, pledging to push ahead with legal proceedings even in case of resistance.
The presidential security team has already been refusing to comply with searches related to the insurrection charges Yoon is facing, saying it will submit the related data instead. A president can theoretically have his or her office and residence searched or even be arrested when accused of insurrection, but no sitting president in history had ever been arrested or even had one’s office searched.
In former president Park Geun-hye’s case, who was impeached on corruption charges, her security team blocked investigators from searching the presidential office, though unlike Yoon, she wasn’t under investigation for insurrection at the time.
The Seoul Western District Court on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Yoon, facing criminal investigation for insurrection and power abuse related to his orders following his Dec. 3 declaration of the martial law. It marked the first time a court issued an arrest warrant against an incumbent president, a legal decision made after Yoon’s repeated refusal to comply to summon orders from the CIO.
Yoon is also undergoing an impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court for the aforementioned insurrection and power abuse charges. Acting President Choi Sang-mok on Tuesday approved the appointment for two of the three new Constitutional Court justices nominated by the parliament, as the court now has just one spot empty on its bench.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik said that the parliament will do its best for legal proceedings of the impeachment trial, and investigation on matters related to the martial law.
