South Korean authorities investigating ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol attempted to enter his residence on Wednesday morning. in a new attempt to arrest him on charges of insurrection related to his declaration of martial law on December 3.
Video footage showed hundreds of police officers marching along the road leading to his hillside villawhere he has been a refugee for weeks, guarded by a small army of personal security.
The officers, some of whom carried ladders and pliers, had pushed their way through a crowd of Yoon supporters gathered nearby.
A previous arrest attempt on Jan. 3 failed after a six-hour standoff between investigators and presidential security agents and Yoon’s military guards.
Yoon’s lawyers have argued that attempts to detain him are illegal and designed to publicly humiliate him.
Police said they had deployed 3,200 officers to Yoon’s residence to carry out the arrest on Wednesday.where hundreds of pro-Yoon protesters and members of his People Power Party had also gathered before dawn in sub-zero temperatures.
“As I have repeatedly stressed the need to prevent physical conflicts between state agencies… “If unfortunate events occur, I will severely punish those responsible,” acting president Choi Sang-mok said on Wednesday.
