A court in South Korea has approved an arrest warrant for the country’s suspended president, Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached over his ill-fated decision to impose martial law early this month, investigators said.
Yoon’s decision to declare martial law late on 3 December plunged Asia’s fourth-biggest economy into its worst political crisis for decades and caused concern in Washington.
Yoon was forced to lift the order just six hours later after MPs forced their way into parliament to vote it down.
The corruption investigation office confirmed that a court in Seoul had approved the warrant, but it was not clear if police would be able to execute it.
“The arrest warrant and search warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol … were issued this morning,” the Joint Investigation Headquarters said in a statement.
Yoon Kab-keun, a lawyer for Yoon, condemned the move. “The arrest warrant and search and seizure warrant issued at the request of an agency without investigative authority are illegal and invalid,” he said in a statement.
Soon after investigators said they had raided the army’s counterintelligence offices as part of the growing martial law probe.
“The emergency martial law investigation team of the Corruption Investigation Office is conducting a search and seizure operation at the Counterintelligence Command this afternoon,” investigators said in a statement.
Yoon has so far refused to cooperate with the investigation into his martial law order. He has failed to report to investigators for questioning over allegations of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion, and his presidential security service has prevented court-ordered searches of his office and residence.
Yoon also faces charges of insurrection – a crime that can carry life imprisonment or the death penalty and one of the few charges from which a South Korean president does not have immunity.
An official from the corruption investigation office said Yoon’s refusal to be questioned had prompted the warrant request.
“The reason for the warrant is that there is a concern that the individual may refuse to comply with summons without justifiable reasons, and there is sufficient probable cause to suspect the commission of a crime,” the official said.
The warrant is valid until 6 January, he said, adding that Yoon could be held at a police station or the Seoul detention centre.
Media reports said an imminent arrest or search of the presidential residence was unlikely, as investigators would seek to coordinate with the presidential security service. Technically, anyone obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant could be arrested.
But under South Korean law, locations potentially linked to military secrets cannot be seized or searched without the consent of the person in charge, and it is unlikely that Yoon will voluntarily leave his residence if he faces arrest.
It is the first time an arrest warrant has been issued for an incumbent president in South Korea, according to local media.
Police were deployed early on Tuesday outside Yoon’s residence in central Seoul in an attempt to prevent unrest. Yoon’s supporters and protesters calling for his removal have staked out his residence, with local media showing images of altercations between the two camps overnight.
“Unless Yoon voluntarily lets them detain him, there is no way to detain him,” said Choi Jin, director of the Seoul-based Institute of Presidential Leadership. “Should investigators have hand-to-hand fights with the security service?”
Choi said that investigators were still likely to visit Yoon’s residence to show they were doing their work diligently and fairly.
Park Sung-min, president of the Seoul-based political consulting firm MIN Consulting, said the push for an arrest warrant was probably an attempt to pressure Yoon to cooperate with the investigation.
The acting leader of South Korea’s ruling People Power party, Kweon Seong-dong, said on Tuesday that attempting to detain a sitting president was inappropriate, according to Yonhap news agency.
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the national assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December over his imposition of martial law.
The constitutional court has 180 days from that date to decide whether to confirm the impeachment or reinstate Yoon, whose two-and-a-half years in office have been marred by scandal and policy deadlock.
The martial law order triggered weeks of political and market turmoil. Yoon’s replacement, Han Duck-soo, was also impeached last week for refusing to approve bills to facilitate the investigation into his predecessor.
Han’s successor as interim president, Choi Sang-mok, had been in office for just two days when he was confronted with the fatal plane crash at Muan international airport, the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
On Tuesday Choi called for national harmony and unity and for trust in the government in a New Year’s address. “The Republic of Korea is in an unprecedentedly serious situation,” Choi said in a written statement, citing changes around global trade, diplomacy and security, as well as domestic political uncertainty.
“The government will do its best to run state affairs stably in all areas of defence, diplomacy, economy and society for the people to feel relieved,” he added.
Agencies contributed reporting
