South Korean investigators have requested an extension of an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, just hours before the existing warrant was set to expire, Al Jazeera reports.
This comes after authorities were thwarted in their initial attempt to detain him on Friday, as presidential security personnel formed a human chain to block access.
The arrest warrant, the first ever issued for a sitting South Korean president, was due to lapse at midnight local time on Monday (15:00 GMT). The anticorruption investigation team, which is probing Yoon over his controversial December 3 martial law proclamation, confirmed they had requested an extension from the Seoul Western District Court but declined to specify the length of the sought-after extension.
Earlier on Monday, the anticorruption agency requested that the police take over efforts to detain Yoon, following their unsuccessful attempt. The initial warrant was issued because Yoon has refused to cooperate with investigators regarding his martial law declaration, which led to his impeachment. He is also under criminal investigation for possible insurrection.
The request for an extension also follows the indictment of South Korea’s defense intelligence commander, Moon Sang-ho, on Monday for his role in Yoon’s attempt to declare martial law. The six-hour martial law declaration plunged South Korea into a political crisis and resulted in the impeachment of both Yoon and the prime minister, who had temporarily become the acting president.
For weeks, Yoon has remained defiant, barricading himself within his compound and refusing to acknowledge detention and search warrants. Should authorities succeed in detaining Yoon, who has already been suspended from his duties by legislators, he will become the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested.
Early Monday, dozens of Yoon’s legislators from the People Power Party demonstrated in front of his presidential residence, with police blocking roads in the vicinity.
The country’s opposition Democratic Party has also called for the dissolution of the security service protecting the impeached president.
Yoon’s lawyers are contesting the authority of the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) to handle the case, claiming that insurrection is not included within the list of violations the agency is empowered to investigate.
Yoon faces potential prison time or the death penalty if convicted for insurrection for briefly suspending civilian rule. His actions last year drew public rebuke from the United States. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks with South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul in Seoul on Monday.
During a news conference, Blinken stated that Washington had conveyed “serious concerns” over some of the actions Yoon took during his martial law declaration. Despite these concerns, Blinken said that the events since then reflected South Korea’s strength as a democracy.
