An effort to arrest South Korea's president on Jan. 3 failed. A second attempt on Wednesday succeeded—with the help of what the BBC reports was a 1,000-person-strong arrest team. Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol is under criminal investigation for insurrection after declaring martial law on Dec. 3, and that first arrest attempt failed after a six-hour standoff in which 200 soldiers and members of the Presidential Security Service formed a "human wall" to protect Yoon. This time around, an expanded team of investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and police arrived at his residence in Seoul, which the Guardian reports has been called a "fortress" by critics and sits in a hilly area dubbed "Korea's Beverly Hills."
The team came equipped with ladders to allow them to get over buses blocking the entrance and bolt cutters to slice through barbed wire. AFP reports some officers and investigators hiked up trails to reach the main residence. The BBC reports they met with less resistance from the Presidential Security Service, potentially because of their greater numbers. The CIO had also this week cautioned PSS members against blocking Yoon's arrest, saying it could cause them to lose their pensions.
The BBC reports CIO investigators said Yoon didn't speak during questioning on Wednesday afternoon; his lawyers have maintained it was illegal to arrest him because the CIO doesn't have investigative power regarding the alleged insurrections. The current warrant allows investigators to detain Yoon for 48 hours. A subsequent warrant would give them an additional 20 days, but if they can't secure it, they'll need to release him. (More Yoon Suk Yeol stories.)
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