South Korea's Yoon faces new arrest attempt in fortified compound

SEOUL — South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol faces a new and potentially more robust attempt to arrest him for insurrection after a top investigator vowed to do whatever it takes to break a security blockade and take in the embattled leader.

Acting president Choi Sang-mok urged on Wednesday (Jan 8) authorities to "do their best to prevent any injuries to citizens or physical conflict between government agencies" while executing Yoon's arrest warrant.

Protesters supporting and opposing Yoon braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies on the streets around the presidential compound on Wednesday after a court re-issued a warrant on Tuesday to arrest him.

The Presidential Security Service (PSS) has been fortifying the compound this week with barbed wire and barricades using buses to block access to the residence, a hillside villa in an upscale district known as Korea's Beverly Hills.

Yoon is under criminal investigation for insurrection over his failed attempt to impose martial law on Dec 3, a decision that stunned South Korea and prompted the first arrest warrant for a sitting president.

[[nid:713316]]

He also faces an impeachment trial in the Constitutional Court.

One of Yoon's lawyers said the president could not accept the execution of the arrest warrant because it was issued by a court in the wrong jurisdiction and the team of investigators formed to probe the incumbent leader had no mandate to do so.

Yoon Kab-keun, the lawyer, also denied suggestions by some members of parliament that Yoon had fled the official residence, saying he had met the president there on Tuesday. He said they were "malicious rumours" intended to slander Yoon.

On Tuesday, Oh Dong-woon, head of the Corruption Investigation Office for