Investigators likely to re-execute warrant to detain Yoon as early as Tuesday

Jan 14, 2025, 07:00 am

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/Source: Yonhap

AsiaToday reporter Kim Im-soo

The execution of an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol has led to a fierce strategic confrontation among the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), the Presidential Security Service (PSS), President Yoon’s legal team, and the police.

The CIO has warned the PSS leadership that security personnel obstructing the execution of the warrants could face criminal charges, while assuring lower-ranking employees that “there will be no repercussions for disobeying orders,” employing a dual strategy to induce psychological unrest. President Yoon’s legal team has been conducting a psychological warfare campaign, highlighting the illegality of the CIO’s investigation and the warrant execution through media messages, and urging the police not to cooperate. The National Assembly has continued to politicize the martial law incident by raising unverified allegations, while Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Choi Sang-mok has renewed his call on government agencies to avoid any physical clash.

According to legal sources on Monday, the joint investigation team comprised of the police and the CIO may execute the arrest warrant for Yoon as early as Tuesday.

The CIO reportedly completed preparations by sending official requests for cooperation in executing the arrest warrant to the Ministry of National Defense and the Security Service on Sunday night, and is now deliberating on the timing of the execution. The atmosphere within the PSS is said to be highly agitated, especially after it was revealed that the police had applied for an arrest warrant for Kim Sang-ho, the second-in-command of the PSS, leading to a dominant sentiment in favor of proceeding with the execution.

President Yoon’s side is responding with legal arguments while conducting psychological warfare against the police, who will carry out the actual arrest. Yoon’s lawyer, Yoon Kap-keun, criticized the joint investigation team, calling its move a “criminal act that disrupts the rule of law,” and argued that public officials participating in the illegal execution of the warrant would be violating multiple laws, including illegal arrest and detention. He also pointed out that the police’s summons of PSS officials constituted “abuse of investigative authority” and stated that “the acting Minister of the Interior and Safety has a duty to stop the police’s illegal execution of the warrant.”

Yoon’s side also warned of an overflow of “fake news” from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) ahead of the arrest execution. They refuted media reports quoting DP lawmaker Yoon Kun-young’s press conference, which claimed that Yoon had instructed the PSS to consider to use of force and that the PSS personnel were seen carrying backpacks presumed to contain rifles. “The president only emphasized the proper performance of duty according to the standard security manual, and he never issued such an order,” the lawyer said. “The PSS staff has been trained by the same manual, following the same principles for decades across all administrations, and they have carried out their responsibilities accordingly.”

As the unprecedented execution of an arrest warrant for a sitting president raises the possibility of physical clashes, calls for mediation are growing. Acting President Choi urged the police and the PSS to be particularly mindful of maintaining order and preventing clashes, warning that “if a conflict occurs between state institutions, it will leave an indelible scar on our constitutional history.”

#CIO #PSS #arrest warrant #Yoon Suk-yeol