South Korean law enforcement officials enter presidential compound to try to detain impeached Yoon
SEOUL, South Korea — Hundreds of law enforcement officials in South Korea entered the residential compound of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol early Wednesday in the capital Seoul.It was their second attempt to detain him over his imposition of martial law last month.More than a thousand anti-corruption investigators and police officers could be deployed in a potentially multiday operation to apprehend Yoon, who has been holed up in the Hannam-dong residence for weeks.
Yoon has justified his martial law decree as a legitimate act of governance against an “anti-state” opposition bogging down his agenda with its legislative majority and vowed to “fight to the end” against efforts to oust him.The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are jointly investigating whether Yoon’s brief martial law declaration on Dec.3 amounted to an attempted rebellion.
They pledged more forceful measures to detain him after the presidential security service blocked their initial efforts on Jan.3.Following an hourslong standoff 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.Anti-corruption investigators and police later arrived in front of a metal gate with a gold presidential mark that’s near Yoon’s residential building.Some 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 wasn’t 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 Yoon, said attorneys at the residence were negotiating with the anti-corruption agency over the possibility the president could voluntarily appear...