SEOUL, South Korea – Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, fortified inside his presidential compound, failed to appear for his first hearing at Seoul’s Constitutional Court Tuesday, escalating a national crisis as other agencies plan to forcibly make him face charges of insurrection for his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law last month.
Local reports indicate an imminent execution of the move to detail Mr. Yoon could come as soon as the early hours of Wednesday morning
Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and police officers met Tuesday to plan the operation. CIO officials have purchased loudspeakers, batteries for body-worn cameras and other equipment, sources told Yonhap News Agency.
Late Tuesday, the army said that a military security detachment at Mr. Yoon’s Seoul residence would not interfere with entry by police and investigators. That leaves Mr. Yoon just one line of defense inside his compound, the Presidential Security Service. They have barricaded the mansion with vehicles and razor wire.
It is unclear how many PSS members are on duty. According to reports, some 1,000 Seoul police officers will take part in the operation.
The PSS issued a statement Tuesday saying it would respond to an “illegal warrant execution,” on the grounds that the presidential residence is a “national security facility.”
An external perimeter to defend Mr. Yoon is also forming: A church-based coalition of Mr. Yoon’s supporters said its members are rallying their supporters in the area in anticipation of a possible move in the early hours Wednesday morning.
Mr. Yoon appears to be caught in a tightening vice following the shock declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, which led to his impeachment after legislators moved quickly to overturn the declaration. An attempt by the CIO and police to arrest him last week failed in the face of spirited resistance from the president’s security detail.
Though the CIO lost face, it has since made clear, in public statements and comments to the National Assembly, that it is determined to seize the former president. It has also received a court extension of its warrant, and appears to have considerable public support.
Impeached and besieged
The first hearing of the Constitutional Court, which will decide if Mr. Yoon would be permanently removed from office, took just four minutes on Tuesday. Mr. Yoon, who is believed to fear arrest if he departs his fortified residence — did not appear.
The next hearing, on Thursday, will be conducted in absentia, the court’s president said Tuesday. A precedent for that exists: The last presidential impeachment trial, that of conservative President Park Geun-hye in 2016, took place without her presence.
Mr. Yoon, on the other hand, faces an unprecedented situation. Not only is his case being ruled upon by the Constitutional Court, a range of legal and investigative bodies led by the CIO want to detain him for questioning, notably on charges of insurrection. According to South Korea’s constitution, no president can claim immunity for that charge.
It Mr. Yoon is successfully detained by the CIO, he could face a lengthy arrest. That raises questions over whether he will be able to defend himself in front of the Constitutional Court.
On Monday, his legal team said the CIO was trying to shame Mr. Yoon and requested the deferment of the CIO detention to grant the Constitutional Court proceedings primacy.
The National Assembly has advised the Constitutional Court to drop the charge of insurrection against Mr. Yoon in its proceedings. The court has responded that it will reach its own decision on the matter.
The CIO differs and is seeking his detention. No sitting president has ever been arrested, and in recent days, the South Korean press has been filled with speculation on how police might proceed – with siege tactics; with a rotating wave of police officers pressing forward into the mansion to exhaust the PSS; or even a helicopter assault. His supporters, in turn, have vowed to defend him.
No one was killed in the chaotic events of December 3 when martial law was decreed and then reversed, and CIO and police officials are facing pressure to avoid violence in the standoff with Mr. Yoon now.
A top aide to Mr. Yoon issued a plea to law enforcement agencies on Tuesday to abandon their efforts to detain him, The Associated Press reported. Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said there might be a way for the president to testify at a “third site” and accused security forces of treating Mr Yoon as if he were 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, according to the AP report.
Mr. Yoon at the time called his martial law declaration a move against “anti-state forces” and his followers allege long-term election fraud.
But opponents say the election fraud allegations have been disproved, and accuse him of authoritarian instincts and drunkenness.