South Korea Investigators Ask Police to Arrest Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korean anti-graft investigators have asked police to arrest impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after he fended off their week-long efforts to bring him into custody over his failed martial law bid.

The ex-star prosecutor declined interrogation and holed up in his residence, with a failed arrest attempt last week leaving investigators trying to extend the warrant’s Monday deadline and asking for help.

According to Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office, CIO, they had given a go-ahead to the police to take over because of the difficulties they had faced.

Meanwhile, Yoon’s legal team has dismissed the CIO’s authority to arrest him.

The CIO deputy director, Lee Jae-seung in a briefing to reporters, said the validity of the warrant expires today, adding that they plan to request an extension from the court.

He further explained that they would consult the police on the timing of the warrant extension, stressing that the police have yet to accept the request.

Recall that last week, investigators made a U-turn over safety fears following a tense, hours-long standoff with hundreds of security forces.

Yoon faces prison or, at worst, the death penalty if convicted for insurrection over briefly suspending civilian rule and plunging South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades, but both he and his supporters have remained defiant.

One of the protest organisers, Kim Soo-yong, said the Presidential Security Service will protect the President, and they will protect the Presidential Security Service till midnight when the warrant is set to expire.

“If they get another warrant, we will come again,” he said.

Under the fog of dawn, dozens of Yoon’s lawmakers from the People Power Party turned up in front of his presidential residence.