The information operations to influence the Constitutional Court’s impeachment decision continues:
Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol is taken to the Seoul Detention Center after being questioned over his short-lived imposition of martial law at the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, on Jan. 15, 2025. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was formally arrested early Sunday after a court issued a warrant to detain him for an extended period over his botched martial law bid last month, marking the first such detention of a sitting South Korean president in the country’s modern history.
Citing the risks of destroying evidence, a judge at the Seoul Western District Court granted the warrant on charges Yoon led an insurrection and abused his power when he declared martial law on Dec. 3 and allegedly sent troops to the National Assembly to stop lawmakers from voting down the decree.
With the warrant’s issuance, investigators can keep Yoon in custody for up to 20 days, including the days he has already spent at a detention center following his apprehension at his residence in Seoul on Wednesday.
You can read more at the link.
After this resignation Acting President Choi is calling for the National Assembly to pass a bill requesting an independent investigation of President Yoon. I highly doubt the DPK will agree to an independent investigation, but I guess we will see what happens:
South Korea’s acting leader on Friday accepted the resignation of the chief of the presidential security service, Park Jong-joon, as he faced police questioning over how his forces blocked law enforcement efforts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol last week. The acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, also expressed regret over the clashes between law enforcement officials and the presidential security service and called for lawmakers to reach a bipartisan agreement to launch an independent investigation.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are planning a second attempt to bring Yoon into custody as they jointly investigate whether his brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. The presidential security service blocked an earlier attempt to detain Yoon at his official residence, which he has not left for weeks. It wasn’t immediately clear how Park’s resignation and Choi’s call for an independent investigation to take over the probe on Yoon would affect the push to bring Yoon into custody.
“The government has been deliberating to find a wise solution, but unfortunately, within our current legal framework, it’s difficult to find a clear resolution to end the conflict between the two agencies,” Choi said about the tensions between the anti-corruption office and presidential security service over Yoon’s potential detention. “We urge the ruling and opposition parties to work together to agree on a bill to launch a special prosecutor investigation that is free from constitutional issues. This will naturally resolve the ongoing intense standoff.
You can read more at the link.
If the CIO resorts to violence in its attempts to knab President Yoon this could spill over into street violence. Yoon has already said he would step down if the Constitutional Court approves his impeachment. The Constitutional Court should be allowed to do its trial and render a verdict without the sideshow CIO investigation that is clearly being attempted to influence the Constitutional Court:
Acting President Choi Sang-mok renewed his call on government agencies Monday to avoid any physical clash while trying to detain President Yoon Suk Yeol or prevent his arrest over his botched martial law bid.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), which is investigating Yoon for alleged insurrection, is preparing to execute a court-issued warrant against Yoon, who remains inside his fortified compound. This follows an earlier attempt that ended in a five-hour standoff with the Presidential Security Service (PSS).
“All law enforcement actions must be conducted in a peaceful and restrained manner. Under no circumstances should violence be employed by any involved agencies,” Choi said in a press release.
The PSS heightened security at Yoon’s residence by installing barbed wire, barricades and buses to block access to the compound in Seoul.
You can read more at the link.
There is really nothing I don’t agree with in Jake Sullivan’s statement:
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday portrayed impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law bid as “shocking” and “wrong,” but voiced confidence that “structurally,” the South Korea-U.S. alliance is “incredibly healthy.”
Speaking in a press meeting, he also noted that the Biden administration was not able to make “substantial” progress in the efforts toward the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the security trend moving in the “wrong” direction, but stressed America and its allies are in a “materially better” position to deter North Korean threats.
He also expressed concerns over the “risk” of North Korea using the ongoing political turmoil in South Korea to engage in provocative activities, but underscored that Pyongyang “should make no mistake” given the strength of the bilateral alliance.
You can read more at the link.
If the CIO wants the PSS to cooperate with them to arrest President Yoon, this latest legal action isn’t going to help:
The head of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) has been booked on suspicions of insurrection in an ongoing probe into President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law imposition last month, police said Sunday.
Park Chong-jun, chief of the PSS, has been additionally booked for insurrection charges, a police official told Yonhap News Agency.
Park is known to have called in Cho Ji-ho, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, to the presidential safe house three hours before Yoon declared martial law on Dec. 3.
Last week, Park was booked on suspicion of obstructing special official duties, as PSS officials, along with military personnel, blocked the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials from executing a warrant to detain Yoon.
Police have requested Park to appear for questioning on Tuesday after he snubbed an initial request made for Saturday.
You can read more at the link.
I wonder who in the South Korean political establishment Senator Kim is directing his comments towards? The person taking the most advantage of this situation is clearly Lee Jae-myung who is set to become President if Yoon is impeached:
Andy Kim, the first-ever Korean American senator, underscored the need Wednesday for South Korea to focus on ensuring stability amid political uncertainty caused by President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law bid, while cautioning against any move to use the situation to advance “political ambitions.”
Kim (D-NJ) made the remarks as South Korea has been thrust into a period of political turmoil following Yoon’s short-lived martial law imposition on Dec. 3 and his impeachment on Dec. 14.
“It’s really a critical time for stability, not for any particular person to try to use this to advance their own political ambitions,” Kim said during a meeting with Korean and Asian American reporters at the Capitol in Washington.
“It’s about stabilizing it first and foremost,” he added, noting South Korean politicians need to be “very careful and thoughtful” with their thoughts and actions as they are “under a microscope.”
You can read more at the link.
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.
You can read more at the link.
