South Korea authorities seek extension of warrant to arrest impeached Yoon

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol has defiantly refused questioning over a bungled martial law decree last month.

South Korean investigators have requested an extension of a warrant to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, hours before the current order expires.

Anticorruption investigators probing Yoon over his December 3 martial law proclamation failed to serve an arrest warrant on Friday, after they were blocked by presidential security service guards who formed a human chain to prevent access to Yoon.

The arrest warrant, the first for a sitting president, was due to expire at midnight local time on Monday (15:00 GMT). Investigating authorities said in a statement on Monday they had requested an extension at the Seoul Western District Court, but declined to say how long the extension would last if granted.

Earlier on Monday, the anticorruption agency said it requested that police take over efforts to detain Yoon after its investigators failed to bring him into custody.

The initial warrant was issued on the grounds that Yoon has refused to emerge for questioning over his martial law decree, which led to his impeachment. He is also under criminal investigation for possible insurrection.

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally near his official residence, in Seoul [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

The request for extension comes as South Korean prosecutors indicted the country’s defence intelligence commander Moon Sang-ho on Monday over his role in Yoon’s failed attempt to declare martial law.

The brief six-hour martial law declaration plunged one of Asia’s strongest democracies into uncharted territory with the impeachment of not only Yoon, but also the prime minister who became acting president.

For weeks, Yoon has defiantly holed up in his compound and refused to respond to detention and search warrants.

If authorities detain Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by legislators, he would become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.

Yoon, supporters defiant

Nevertheless, Yoon and his supporters have remained defiant. “We will protect the Presidential Security Service till midnight,” Kim Soo-yong, one of the protest organisers, told the AFP news agency. “If they get another warrant, we will come again.”

Early on Monday dozens of Yoon’s legislators from the People Power Party turned up in front of his presidential residence, and police blocked roads.

The country’s opposition Democratic Party has also called for the dissolution of the security service protecting the impeached president.

The impeached president’s lawyers have said the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) does not have the authority to handle his case as the law stipulates a wide-ranging list of high-ranking officials and violations it can investigate, but has no mention of insurrection.

Yoon faces prison or, at worst, the death penalty if convicted for insurrection over briefly suspending civilian rule and plunging South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades.

Yoon’s actions last year drew a rare rebuke from officials in key ally, the United States. On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held talks in Seoul with South Korean Acting President Choi Sang-mok and Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul.

In a news conference, Blinken said Washington had expressed “serious concerns” to Seoul over some of the actions Yoon took over the course of his martial law declaration. But the events unfolding since then have reflected South Korea’s brand as a democratic success, “which is remarkably strong”.

“The response that we’ve seen, and that we expect to continue to see, is one that is peaceful and fully consistent and in accordance with the constitution and the rule of law,” Blinken said.