SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean authorities tried and failed Friday to carry out an unprecedented arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched attempt to declare martial law in a dramatic standoff at the presidential residence where Yoon has been staying since he was impeached last month.
Investigators and police officers began leaving Yoon’s official residence in central Seoul around 1:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. Thursday ET), more than five hours after they first passed through the steel gates.
They said they had suspended the execution of the arrest warrant for the day “because we have concluded that it is impossible to execute it today,” citing safety concerns as they were blocked by Yoon’s presidential security detail.
“It is to our extreme regret that the suspect did not respond to the legal proceedings,” a joint team of investigators said in a statement.
The warrant, which Yoon’s lawyers say is illegal, does not expire until Monday and officials could try to execute it again before then.
They are seeking to detain Yoon for questioning on possible charges of insurrection, one of the few crimes for which South Korean presidents do not have immunity. Officials would then have to apply for a separate court warrant in order to formally indict and continue to hold him.
Thousands of police officers arrived at the compound on Friday, a month to the day after Yoon’s short-lived declaration of martial law.
In addition to Yoon’s security detail, they faced a growing crowd of Yoon’s conservative supporters outside the residence who were trying to form a “human shield” to protect him from arrest, some of whom waved American flags in a show of support for the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
Officials said the arrest warrant had been served to the presidential security chief, Park Jong-joon, at 10:11 a.m. The Presidential Security Service, which has also blocked investigators from searching Yoon’s office and residence in recent weeks, told NBC News that it was required by law to protect the president, including from anyone entering the premises to execute warrants.
The main opposition Democratic Party warned that Park and other members of the presidential security detail could face “severe legal judgment” if they hindered Yoon’s arrest.
“We cannot help but ask whether the Presidential Security Service is operating outside the law, disregarding court-issued warrants and the judicial system of the Republic of Korea,” Cho Seung-rae, the party’s chief spokesperson, said Friday, using South Korea’s formal name.
He also said Choi Sang-mok, South Korea’s second acting president since Yoon’s impeachment on Dec. 14, should take “decisive action” to ensure Yoon’s arrest.
Though Yoon, 64, is not the first South Korean president to be impeached, he would be the East Asian democracy’s first sitting president to be arrested. He has been suspended from presidential duties since he was impeached.
Yoon’s lawyers have challenged the warrant issued Tuesday to arrest him and search the presidential office and residence, saying the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which is leading the joint investigation team, does not have comprehensive command authority over the police.
“Legal actions will be taken against any unlawful circumstances arising during the execution of this illegal warrant,” one of Yoon’s lawyers, Yoon Kap-geun, said by text message Friday.
Yoon, who took office in 2022 for a single five-year term, has struggled to advance his legislative agenda against the opposition-controlled parliament.
In a surprise late-night address on Dec. 3, he accused “anti-state forces” of paralyzing the government and sympathizing with communist North Korea and declared emergency martial law, which included a ban on all political activity.
He lifted the order about six hours later after lawmakers voted unanimously to reject it.
Though Yoon has apologized for the martial law declaration, he has repeatedly defied summonses to appear for questioning in the criminal investigation, saying it was within his power as president to issue the order, South Korea’s first since 1980.
The episode has deeply shaken South Korea, which has a long history of military-authoritarian rule but has since transitioned into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies and the world’s 10th-largest economy.
A Gallup Korea poll released Dec. 13 found Yoon had an approval rating of 11%, down from 19% before the martial law declaration.
Yoon still has some supporters, however, hundreds of whom have gathered outside the presidential residence in recent days. Some waving American flags argued that Yoon and his conservative People Power Party are more supportive of the U.S. alliance than the liberal Democratic Party, which they accused of being friendlier toward China and North Korea.
Others held signs adopting a slogan associated with President-elect Donald Trump’s false claims of election fraud in 2020, “Stop the Steal.”
Gang Sung-min said Yoon should not be arrested and that he was protesting “to make sure it does not happen.”
“These actions were carried out as an overreach from the start, and the investigations were initiated unlawfully,” Gang, who is in his 20s, said Friday. “So I believe that the people can step in to block such illegal acts.”
In a letter to the protesters late Wednesday, Yoon said he had been watching their efforts via YouTube.
“Thank you so much and I feel sad,” he wrote, adding that he worried for their health in the bitterly cold weather.
Yoon, who was once the country’s chief prosecutor, said South Korea was in “danger” because of efforts by “anti-state forces” inside and outside the country “to steal the sovereignty of this nation.”
“I will fight until the end standing with you to protect our country,” he said. “Our country belongs to each and every person in South Korea and not a government or a party.”
The Democratic Party said Yoon’s message to supporters was “highly inappropriate” and “demonstrates that he remains trapped in his delusions.”
“Most concerning is his incitement of extreme conflict and chaos among his supporters through this message,” Cho, the party spokesperson, said Thursday. “As if orchestrating a rebellion was not enough, he is now stirring his followers to provoke extreme clashes and disorder.”
State media in North Korea, which technically remains at war with the South, said Friday that the crisis in South Korea had resulted in “paralysis of its state administration and spiraling socio-political confusion.”
After his impeachment, Yoon faces trial in the Constitutional Court, which has 180 days to decide whether to confirm it. A second hearing was set for Friday.
If Yoon is removed from office, a presidential by-election must be held within 60 days.
In the meantime, Yoon has been suspended from presidential duties, and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo initially became acting president. Han was in the job for less than two weeks before he was also impeached on Dec. 27 after he refused to immediately appoint three justices to fill vacancies on the Constitutional Court.
Choi, the former deputy prime minister and minister of economy and finance, took office two days before a Jeju Air plane crashed in the southwest city of Muan, killing 179 of the 181 people on board in the world’s deadliest aviation disaster of 2024.
Stella Kim, Steve Patterson, Stephanie Fuerte and Beomsu Jo reported from Seoul and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
