SEOUL: South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol faces a new and potentially more robust attempt to arrest him for insurrection after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the impeached leader.
Acting president Choi Sang-mok urged on Wednesday authorities to “do their best to prevent any injuries to citizens or physical conflict between government agencies” while executing Yoon’s arrest warrant.
Protesters supporting and opposing the embattled Yoon braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies on the streets around the presidential compound on Wednesday after a court re-issued a warrant on Tuesday to arrest him.
The Presidential Security Service (PSS) has been fortifying the compound this week with barbed wire and barricades using buses to block access to the residence, a hillside villa in an upscale district known as Korea’s Beverly Hills.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his failed attempt to impose martial law on Dec. 3, a decision that stunned South Korea and prompted the first arrest warrant for a sitting president.
He also faces an impeachment trial in the Constitutional Court.
One of Yoon’s lawyers said the president could not accept the execution of the arrest warrant because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team of investigators formed to probe the incumbent leader had no mandate to do so.
Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer, also denied suggestions by some members of parliament that Yoon had fled the official residence, saying he had met the president there on Tuesday. He said they were “malicious rumors” intended to slander Yoon.
On Tuesday, Oh Dong-woon, head of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading the investigation, apologized for failing to arrest the president last week after a six-hour standoff with hundreds of PSS agents, some of whom were carrying firearms, and military guards at the compound.
“We’ll do our best to accomplish our goal by thoroughly preparing this time with great determination that the second warrant execution will be the last,” Oh told a parliament committee.
He declined to specify how many days the court had given before the new arrest warrant expired.
Oh did not object when members of parliament called for tough action to overpower the presidential guards and military troops inside the compound, but he declined to discuss what options were being considered to achieve that.
Various scenarios reported in local media included mobilizing police special tactical units and heavy equipment to push through the barricades, followed by more than 2,000 police to drag out presidential guards, taking as long as three days if necessary to wear down presidential security agents.
Shin Yul, a Myongji University professor who has followed the political turmoil, said police had lots of experience with the tactical operations that were likely being considered. But safety should be a top priority, especially for protesters, he said, noting the risk of gunfire in a potential clash.
Although police have a clear advantage in terms of resources such as helicopters to drop in tactical units, force should not be the only option considered, said Lee Yung-hyeock, a Konkuk University professor specializing in law enforcement.
He cited “cognitive warfare” such as using loudspeakers to persuade PSS agents they could face personal repercussions by obstructing justice that could mean the end of their careers and possible criminal records.

Dhaka: Bangladesh money laundering investigators have ordered the country’s big banks to hand over details of transactions relating to British anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq in an ongoing graft probe, officers told AFP.
Siddiq is the niece of former Bangladeshi premier Sheikh Hasina, who fled abroad last August after a student-led uprising against her iron-fisted tenure.
Last month the national anti-corruption commission launched a probe into the alleged embezzlement by Hasina’s family of $5 billion connected to a Russian-funded nuclear power plant.
Two officials from the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Bangladeshi banks had been instructed to furnish any financial records relating to Siddiq.
A BFIU document issued Tuesday and seen by AFP showed that banks had also been told to provide transaction records for Hasina, her son and daughter, Siddiq’s two siblings and her mother Sheikh Rehana.
The kickback allegations relate to the $12.65 billion Rooppur nuclear plant, which was bankrolled by Moscow with a 90 percent loan.
“The claims of kickbacks, mismanagement, money laundering, and potential abuse of power raise significant concerns about the integrity of the project and the use of public funds,” the anti-corruption commission said last month when announcing the probe.
The order came a day after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed that Siddiq had referred herself to his standards adviser.
Siddiq insists she has done nothing wrong and a spokesman for Starmer said he retains “full confidence” in her.
The referral came after the Sunday Times and Financial Times newspapers reported that she had lived in properties linked to her aunt Sheikh Hasina’s administration.
“In recent weeks I have been the subject of media reporting, much of it inaccurate, about my financial affairs and my family’s links to the former government of Bangladesh,” Siddiq wrote in her letter to ministerial standards watchdog Laurie Magnus.
“I am clear that I have done nothing wrong,” she added. “However, for the avoidance of doubt, I would like you to independently establish the facts about these matters.”
Her aunt Hasina, 77, fled Bangladesh by helicopter on August 5, shortly before protesters stormed her palace in the capital Dhaka.
She remains in neighboring India but the interim government that replaced her has demanded her extradition to face trial for the police killing of protesters during the revolt against her regime.