Yoon Suk Yeol: Why has it been so hard to arrest an impeached president?

Before dawn on Wednesday, 3,000 police officers arrived at the heavily guarded residence of South Korea's suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol, their mission to arrest him.

Investigators used ladders to scale buses and bolt cutters to cut through wire fences, breaching multiple barricades designed to stop them. Others hiked up nearby trails to reach the presidential residence. Hours later, they detained him on suspicion of insurrection for questioning.

This was their second attempt. In the first operation earlier this month, around 150 police officers were in a six-hour standoff with the president’s security detail. They were outnumbered, first by a large group of pro-Yoon supporters gathered outside his residence to block the police, then by a human wall of security personnel inside the building. Ultimately, investigators concluded that arresting him was “virtually impossible” and retreated.

Now, many see Yoon as a disgraced leader, impeached and suspended from the presidency for allegedly attempting to impose martial law, currently awaiting a ruling from the Constitutional Court that could remove him from office. So why has it been so difficult to arrest him?

South Korea has experienced an unprecedented few weeks since Yoon's shock but brief martial law order on December 3rd. Lawmakers voted to impeach him, a criminal investigation followed, and his refusal to be questioned led to an arrest warrant. A major obstacle for the arresting officers was Yoon’s presidential security team, who formed a human wall and used vehicles to block police on January 3rd. Analysts suggest their actions may have stemmed from loyalty to Yoon, noting that Yoon himself had appointed several leaders of the Presidential Security Service (PSS).

“It’s very likely that Yoon had placed hard-core loyalists within the organization in anticipation of this situation,” said Christopher J. Lee, a US lawyer and expert on Korea. It’s unclear why their resistance was noticeably less this time, though Mr. Lee suggests the team may have been partly intimidated by the “overwhelming show of force by the police.” “At the end of the day, I don’t think they were willing to engage in a massive violent confrontation with law enforcement to fully defend Yoon,” he said.

Earlier this week, the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) had warned the PSS that they could lose their pensions and civil servant status if they obstructed the arrest operation. Conversely, it assured those who “defied illegal orders” to stop the arrest that they “would not face adverse consequences.” On Wednesday, Yonhap news agency reported that some PSS members either took leave or chose to remain inside the residence.

The right-wing leader also has a strong base of support. Some of Yoon’s supporters told the BBC earlier that they were prepared to die to protect him, repeating unsubstantiated allegations made by Yoon himself, including that the country had been infiltrated by pro-North Korean forces. On January 3rd, thousands braved the cold to camp outside his residence, preventing the arrest team from entering. They cheered when they learned the arrest team had given up. Wednesday was similar, with a large group of pro-Yoon supporters turning up, some even aggressively confronting police to try and stop the arrest. Some of them cried upon learning that Yoon had been arrested.

But the organization really under scrutiny is the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is jointly leading the investigation with the police. Questions have been raised about the way the CIO failed to arrest Yoon the first time, with critics accusing it of being ill-prepared and poorly coordinated. The agency was set up four years ago by the previous government in response to public anger over former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached, removed from office and subsequently jailed over a corruption scandal. Mason Richey, an associate professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, said the failed attempt earlier this month was “a further humiliation” for the CIO, which has “a poor reputation both politically and in terms of competence.”

Professor Richey said the CIO would likely see today’s successful arrest as a victory, but it remains to be seen how they will handle the investigation moving forward. “Many people don’t trust their information about the investigation,” he added. “We are in this mess after various organizations scramble to lead the investigation for their own benefit,” said Lee Chang-min, a lawyer with the activist group Lawyers for a Democratic Society. “Even if a joint investigation body is maintained, the case should be transferred to the police, who should exercise their authority,” he added.

The CIO does not have the power to bring indictments, and it is expected to pass the case to state prosecutors after its investigation. Despite its name as the Corruption Investigation Office, the CIO’s remit extends beyond corruption. Its mandate stretches to investigating abuses of power by senior officials more broadly. The CIO argues that Yoon abused his power to commit insurrection. But Yoon's lawyers argue that the CIO is an anti-corruption body and its powers do not extend to investigating insurrection. They are considering appealing to the Supreme Court to test this, Yonhap news agency reported.

South Korea is now in uncharted territory, with Yoon being the first sitting president to be arrested. Mr. Lee said the investigation into him has also “mobilized the far-right populist elements within the conservative coalition,” who may “have an outsized influence on the country’s conservative politics.”