Seemingly hundreds of law enforcement officials entered the residential compound of impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol in the capital Seoul in their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law last month.
Following an hours-long stand-off at the compound’s gate, anti-corruption investigators and police officers were seen moving up the hilly compound.
Police officers were earlier seen using ladders to climb over rows of buses placed by the presidential security service near the compound’s entrance.
Law enforcement officials may face more obstacles as they approached Mr Yoon’s residential building.
Officers were seen entering a security door on the side of the metal gate, escorted by one of Yoon’s lawyers and his chief of staff, but it was not immediately clear why they were being let in. The presidential security service later removed a bus and other vehicles that had been parked tightly inside the gate as a barricade.
Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer for the president, said lawyers at the residence were negotiating with the anti-corruption agency over the possibility the president could voluntarily appear for questioning. Seok said Yoon had not been detained as of Wednesday morning.
It remained unclear whether law enforcement will accept the offer from Mr Yoon’s lawyers, as the president previously evaded multiple requests to appear for questioning before the agency sought court warrants for his detention. There were no immediate reports of clashes.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Mr Yoon’s brief martial law declaration on December 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion.
They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on January 3.
Despite a court warrant for Mr Yoon’s detention, the presidential security service has insisted it is obligated to protect the impeached president and has fortified the compound with barbed wire and rows of buses blocking paths.
South Korea’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, issued a statement early on Wednesday urging law enforcement and the presidential security service to ensure there are no “physical clashes”.
Senior embers of Mr Yoon’s People Power Party, along with at least one of his lawyers, were earlier seen at the residence’s gate, apparently arguing with anti-corruption officials and police officers attempting to enter.
Hundreds of the president’s supporters and critics held competing protests near the residence — one side vowing to protect him, the other calling for his imprisonment – while thousands of police officers in yellow jackets closely monitored the situation, setting up perimeters with buses.
Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said Mr Yoon could instead be questioned at a “third site” or at his residence and said the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a “South American drug cartel.”
But Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Mr Chung issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plan to make the president available for questioning by investigators.
If investigators manage to detain Yoon Suk Yeol, they will likely ask a court for permission to make a formal arrest. Otherwise, he will be released after 48 hours.
Yoon has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining him after a nearly six-hour standoff on January 3.
