South Korean Leader Blocks Arrest

South Korean investigators failed to arrest the country's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol, thwarted by his armed Secret Service bodyguards in another tense showdown resulting from his short-lived martial-law decree last month.

Yoon, who is being investigated for insurrection among other charges, has refused three summonses to appear for questioning. He and his lawyers say the legal scrutiny is illegitimate.

On Tuesday, a Seoul court issued a detainment warrant that would bring the 64-year-old leader in front of investigators.

Yoon and his legal-defense team have lambasted the warrant as "illegal and invalid," demanding the issuing judge be investigated. That set the stage for Friday's roughly sixhour standoff at South Korea's presidential residence in Seoul.

Hundreds of Yoon's supporters packed adjacent sidewalks, waving South Korean and U.S.flags and holding signs that read: "Nullify impeachment." At the main gate, a parked security-team bus prevented the investigators' vehicles from entering when they arrived at about 7:20 a.m. It took a team of around 30 investigators nearly three hours to get in. As they marched up to the presidential residence, investigators scuffled several times with Secret Service bodyguards, according to the special unit.

As they got several hundred feet away, a show of force awaited them: A wall of roughly 200 armed bodyguards and about 10 vehicles. Just three prosecutors could approach the door, the special unit said.

Handing the arrest warrant to Yoon's lawyers, investigators got an answer they didn't like: "We will not comply with an illegal warrant," a defense attorney said. By 1:30 p.m., the special unit called it quits, deeming it "virtually impossible" to execute the warrant.

It was investigators' firstthough possibly not last-try at detaining the conservative Yoon. The arrest warrant is valid through Monday, but they could ask the court to reissue the warrant.

Yoon was stripped of his presidential powers after his Dec. 14 impeachment. Last week Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who had been acting president with Yoon sidelined, was also impeached.

The investigators warned that presidential-security personnel who helped Yoon defy arrest could be charged with dereliction of duty or obstruction. By law, the mission of the presidential security detail is to protect the nation's leader-and Yoon, impeached though not removed from office, remains the elected head of the country pending a Constitutional Court review. The court has until midJune to do so, though it is expected to move more quickly.

Yoon's security team appears to view the arrest as a threat to the safety of the president, said Kim Seon-taek of Korea University in Seoul, who specializes in constitutional law.

After the detainment attempt failed, the special unit charged the head of Yoon's security with special obstruction of public duty. He and a Secret Service deputy are scheduled to be questioned on Saturday.

The inability to arrest Yoon is likely to spur more political unrest. Dueling mass protests have unfolded across South Korea, supporting or disavowing the impeachment.

Investigators have been blocked from carrying out search-and-seizure raids by Yoon's Secret Service team. On Thursday, law enforcement forcibly removed about 30 pro-Yoon protesters who broke through a police barrier and tried to block access to the presidential residence.

South Korea is "now in danger" because of the activities of antistate groups, Yoon said in a letter to supporters.

"With you, I will fight to the end to protect this country." Yoon's legal woes run parallel with his impeachment trial, which formally started this past week and will hold first arguments on Jan. 14.

The Constitutional Court plays a similar role in impeachment cases to the U.S. Senate.

After Yoon's impeachment, Han, the prime minister, assumed the nation's top job. He was impeached by the opposition-controlled National Assembly after refusing to appoint judges to the Constitutional Court, which had only six of nine seats filled.

The whirlwind of events has left Choi Sang-mok, the No. 3 in line to the presidency, with four of the nation's top positions: acting president, acting prime minister and his previous roles as deputy prime minister and head of the economy and finance ministry.

Choi, as acting president, could direct the Secret Service team to allow Yoon to be arrested, said Korea University's Kim. But Choi hasn't commented publicly on the matter.

More than 61% of South Koreans want to see Yoon's impeachment upheld, a poll shows.