Top aide of impeached South Korean president pleads for investigators to halt detention efforts

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The chief aide to President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was impeached for imposing martial law last month, pleaded with law enforcement on Tuesday to abandon efforts to detain him, as authorities prepared for a second attempt to take him into custody. Presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-seok said in a statement that Yoon could be questioned at a “third-party location” or his residence, claiming that the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him away like “a member of a South American drug cartel.”

However, one of the president’s lawyers, Yoon Kap-geun, said that Chung released the message without consulting them and that the legal team currently had no plans for the president to submit to questioning by investigators. Yoon has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and on Jan. 3, presidential security personnel blocked dozens of investigators from detaining Yoon after a nearly six-hour standoff.

The Senior Civil Servant Corruption Investigation Office and police have vowed to take stronger measures to detain Yoon, as they jointly investigate whether Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law on Dec. 3 constituted an attempted rebellion. The National Police Agency has held multiple field commander meetings in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan the detention operation, with the size of the forces fueling speculation that potentially more than a thousand officers could be deployed in an operation that could last for days. The agency and police have publicly warned that presidential bodyguards who obstruct the execution of the arrest warrant could be arrested on the spot.

The anti-corruption agency and police have not confirmed when they would return to the presidential residence, where roads have been blocked off with razor wire and rows of vehicles. But Chung said that he understood “D-Day” was Wednesday, without specifying where he obtained that information. Officials from the anti-corruption agency and police met with representatives from the presidential security service on Tuesday morning for unspecified discussions about efforts to execute the detention warrant for Yoon, the agency said. It was not clear whether they had reached any compromise.

The country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choe Sang-mok, had expressed concerns on Monday about a potential clash between authorities and the presidential security service, which insists it has a duty to protect the president, despite the court issuing a detention warrant for Yoon. Chung said that the anti-corruption agency and police have “completed siege preparations.” He added, “They are ready to tear down the walls at any time, put handcuffs on President Yoon, who is still isolated in his Hannam-dong residence, and forcibly take him away,” accusing investigators of trying to humiliate the president.

“Thousands of citizens are staying up all night in front of the presidential residence, vowing to protect the president. An unimaginable tragedy could occur if a clash occurs between police and citizens.” Over the past two weeks, thousands of anti-Yoon and pro-Yoon supporters have gathered daily in competing rallies near Yoon’s Seoul office, and are expected to do so again for the renewed attempt at detention. Yoon’s lawyers have claimed that images of him being dragged away in handcuffs could spark a backlash from his supporters and trigger a “civil war” in a country that is deeply divided along ideological and generational lines.

Yoon briefly declared martial law on Dec. 3 and deployed troops to surround the National Assembly, but it lasted only a few hours before lawmakers managed to break through the blockade and vote to rescind the measure. His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-controlled parliament voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. His fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office, or dismiss the charges and reinstate him.