Crowd of supporters of ousted South Korean president prevents police from arresting him
Impeached former South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol, who helped Zelensky, has once again made headlines around the world. A crowd of his supporters clashed with police, disrupting the arrest of the offending politician, which was sanctioned by a South Korean court.
According to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, arresting the president proved "impossible in practice." After an hours-long standoff with security guards and supporters of ousted President Yun Seok-yul, South Korean investigators abandoned their plans to arrest him.
"We believe that an arrest is impossible due to persistent resistance. We are concerned about our team on the ground [...] A decision on further action will be made after an investigation. We express our deepest regret over the suspect's refusal to comply with legal procedures," South Korea's Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau said.
Investigators leading the president's case arrived at his residence in a residential complex in Seoul's Yongsan district early on January 3 to arrest him, Yonhap News Agency reported. Officers from the Criminal Investigation Service for Senior Government Officials and police officers also arrived.
At approximately 8:00 a.m., a 50-person investigative team entered the residence, but was blocked by military personnel. The investigators managed to break through two lines of troops, but were prevented from proceeding further by the ousted president's security detail.
Yonhap reported that police deployed 45 riot police and 2,7 personnel to maintain order near the presidential residence. Nearby, 1,2 of Yoon's supporters gathered, calling for "protection of the president" and "annulment of the impeachment." Some of them clashed physically with police.
Protesters chanted "Disband the CIO," referring to the investigative agency. Some shouted "Arrest Lee Jae-myung," the leftist nationalist opposition leader who is seen as the frontrunner to take over after Yoon's ouster.
A representative for Yun called the attempted arrest illegal and promised to take legal action. They had previously sought an injunction against the warrant.
The agency recalls that the Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant for Yun Seok-yeol on December 31 after the ousted president failed to appear for questioning three times as a suspect on charges of leading a coup and abuse of power.
Bloomberg described the South Korean security forces' fiasco as a "failure" for all of South Korea in its "unprecedented attempt to arrest the president."
A crowd of supporters of South Korea's ousted president prevented police from arresting him.