Category: Politics-Korea

President Yoon’s lawyers understand that the Constitutional Court impeachment trial is really the main event to be focused on. If the Constitutional Court does not approve of his impeachment and he remains President, the CIO is going to have a harder time justifying their case:

President Yoon Suk Yeol will comply with legal procedures if he is indicted or a formal arrest warrant is sought over his short-lived martial law, rather than the current warrant for temporary detention, his lawyers said, Wednesday. 

They also said the president is willing to attend his impeachment trial hearings at the Constitutional Court without restrictions, as long as the ongoing controversy over the removal of insurrection charges is resolved.

However, it remains to be seen if the president’s side will truly comply with the legal procedures, as he has not done so with the detention warrant issued at the request of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is leading a joint investigation with the police and the defense ministry.

The lawyers reiterated their stance of non-cooperation with the CIO’s detention warrant, which has been extended. A detention warrant is typically issued when investigators need to take immediate custody of a suspect for questioning before seeking a formal arrest warrant. This allows them to detain a suspect for 48 hours, and if they wish to continue questioning under custody, they must seek a separate arrest warrant.

Yoon has refused to cooperate with the detention warrant, arguing that the anti-corruption agency lacks legal grounds for investigating the insurrection charges.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It seems to me fleeing his official residence would be a stupid move. If he is trying to avoid the CIO from detaining him his official residence would be more secure than anywhere else he could go:

Police said Wednesday they are tracking President Yoon Suk Yeol’s location amid rumors he may have fled from his residence while facing the threat of arrest over his short-lived imposition of martial law.

“We cannot specifically disclose President Yoon’s location,” a police official told Yonhap News Agency. “We continue to track his location.”

Yoon is believed to have been largely holed up at his official residence in central Seoul since the National Assembly impeached him on Dec. 14 over his failed martial law bid earlier that month.

Police confirmed he was home last Friday when investigators tried to execute a warrant to detain him before withdrawing five hours later amid a standoff with presidential security staff, according to sources. He was home at least until early this week, they said.

Rumors that he may have fled were sparked Tuesday by Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, who told lawmakers during a parliamentary session that he had heard nothing specific about whether Yoon remained home.

When asked if Yoon could have fled, he answered, “We’re thinking about various possibilities.”

In an interview with KBS radio Wednesday, Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the main opposition Democratic Party claimed he had information Yoon has already left the residence and is hiding in a “third location.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Hersheys seems to having a bump in sales in South Korea due to the current political turmoil:

Hershey’s Kisses, a staple product of global chocolate company Hershey, have traditionally struggled to shine in South Korea despite their popularity abroad. Often seen as a “filler product” in convenience stores and supermarkets, they typically experience modest sales even on Valentine’s Day. However, a recent event has given the chocolate a surprising moment in the spotlight.

According to a report by a major convenience store chain on Monday, sales of Hershey’s Kisses at its stores nationwide increased by 8.4 percent compared to the previous week.

The company noted that this spike is unusual for Hershey’s Kisses, which typically see steady but unremarkable demand. The unexpected surge is attributed to a viral moment involving a protest group nicknamed the “Kisses Protesters.”

On Jan. 5, protesters gathered in front of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, calling for his arrest.

The group earned the nickname “Kisses Protesters” due to their appearance — many participants wrapped themselves in silver foil thermal blankets to endure the freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall. The blankets resembled the silver foil wrapping of Hershey’s Kisses, sparking the nickname.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the DPK is trying to set conditions to now impeach acting President Choi next:

 A special committee of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) said Tuesday it will file a complaint against acting President Choi Sang-mok for alleged dereliction of duty.

Choi has been criticized by opposition lawmakers for not ordering the Presidential Security Service (PSS) to cooperate with attempts by investigators to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.

During a press conference at the National Assembly, the committee slammed Choi for eventually allowing the PSS to block the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) from executing a warrant to detain Yoon.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but remember the DPK initially threatened to impeach Choi, now they are threatening this complaint instead. I think the rising approval rate for Yoon may make the DPK think twice about trying to impeach Choi. The Korean public seems to be losing patience with the DPK’s antics and increasingly siding with Yoon despite the martial law fiasco.

This is pretty incredible how quickly President Yoon’s approval rating has jumped despite being impeached for the martial law fiasco. The article is speculating that conservatives in Korea are rallying around Yoon because of how much they despite the opposition leader Lee Jae-myung:

In the first several months after his inauguration in May 2022, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating quickly fell below 40 percent in most polls and never recovered to that level again.

His controversial decision to declare martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, appeared to seal his fate as a failed leader rejected by the people including those who voted for him, with some surveys showing his popularity plunging to as low as 11 percent.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, his approval rating is now bouncing back — surpassing the levels seen before the martial law declaration.

A poll conducted between Jan. 3 and 4 by KOPRA found that 40 percent of respondents supported Yoon. In a poll conducted by the same pollster four months ago, 30 percent did.

In another survey released on Monday by Realmeter, his party also enjoyed a jump in support, with 34.4 percent saying they support the ruling People Power Party, up from 30.6 percent in a poll conducted a week earlier.

Meanwhile, the approval rating for the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) inched down to 45.2 percent from 45.8 percent in the Realmeter poll. The figure surged to 52.4 percent in the week that followed Yoon’s six-hour imposition of military rule, and has been decreasing since.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

As long as Presidential security remains loyal to President Yoon I don’t see how they are going to be able to arrest him. However, if the Constitutional Court validates Yoon’s impeachment that is when I suspect Presidential security will allow him to be arrested. This is why the authorities should probably wait for the Constitutional Court to render their verdict first before trying to arrest Yoon:

The state anti-corruption agency has asked the police to take over the execution of a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, both sides said Monday.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) made the request in an official letter late Sunday with one day left until the warrant’s expiry.

“The CIO sent us an official letter requesting our cooperation without prior consultations,” a police official told Yonhap News Agency. “We are internally carrying out a legal review.”

The CIO halted its execution of the warrant last Friday after an hourslong standoff with presidential security staff at the presidential residence. (……)

Sources said the CIO’s letter was prompting complaints within the police that the agency was trying to shift its responsibilities after passively executing the warrant last Friday.

Yoon’s legal team has rejected the warrant as illegal and invalid, noting the CIO is not technically authorized to investigate charges of insurrection that Yoon faces over his martial law decree.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The attempt to arrest President Yoon has failed, fortunately this did not turn into a huge brawl:

Investigators from the state anti-corruption agency and police officers leave the premises of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official residence in Seoul on Jan. 3, 2025, after failing to execute a warrant to detain Yoon over his failed bid to impose martial law in December. (Yonhap)

The state anti-corruption agency suspended its attempt to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid Friday following an hourslong standoff between investigators and presidential security staff.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) is expected to make another attempt to detain Yoon over the weekend, while the Presidential Security Service (PSS) threatened to take legal action against “unauthorized trespassing” on the presidential residence.

Yonhap

Here is Yoon’s lawyers’ view of this arrest warrant:

The official said three prosecutors were allowed to walk up to the front of the residence, but not inside, making it difficult to determine whether the president was at home.

The prosecutors did, however, meet with two lawyers for Yoon — Yun Gap-geun and Kim Hong-il — who the official said repeated their position that the president could not comply with a warrant issued “illegally” to an agency unauthorized to investigate insurrection charges.

I still have not read a clear explanation of if what Yoon did was unconstiutional or not. It was clearly stupid and not something I would have advised, but was it illegal? If anyone has any links that lays out clearly the ROK President’s ability to declare martial law please leave them in the comments section.

Besides Presidential security blocking the attempt by investigators to arrest Yoon he also drew a large crowd of demonstrators in support of him:

Rallies by Yoon’s supporters outside the presidential residence, however, have complicated the CIO’s effort, along with the potential for clashes with the PSS.

More than 1,000 pro-Yoon protesters gathered near the residence on Friday morning. Surrounded by some 2,700 police officers deployed to maintain order, they chanted: “Illegal warrant. Completely invalid” and “Arrest the CIO.”

When news broke about the CIO’s withdrawal, the protesters, whose number had grown to 11,000 according to a police estimate, erupted in cheers and shouted “We won” while waving the South Korean and U.S. flags and chanting the president’s name.

You can read more at the link.

This could get really ugly if the Korean police try to raid the Presidential office and get into a fight with Presidential security:

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in a message to conservative supporters rallying outside his Seoul residence, vowed to “fight to the end” against “anti-state forces,” while his legal team warned Thursday that police officers attempting to detain him could face arrest by his presidential security service or even civilians.

Yoon’s latest statement of defiance came as the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials prepared to execute a detainment warrant against him that was issued by a Seoul court on Tuesday and is valid for one week. The warrant was issued after Yoon evaded multiple requests to appear for questioning and blocked searches of his office, hindering an investigation into whether his short-lived power grab on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion.

Oh Dong-woon, the anti-corruption agency’s chief prosecutor, has indicated that police forces might be deployed if Yoon’s security service resists the detention attempt, which could occur as early as Thursday. But it remains unclear whether Yoon can be compelled to submit to questioning. Yoon’s legal team issued a statement on Thursday warning that any attempt by the anti-corruption agency to use police units for his detention would exceed their legal authority. The lawyers said police officers could face arrest by either the “presidential security service or any citizens” if they try to detain Yoon. They didn’t elaborate further on the claim.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.