Following a nearly six-hour standoff with the presidential security service on Friday, South Korean investigators failed to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. In the wake of two consecutive presidential impeachments, South Korea is stuck in a political crisis.
In its statement, the country's anti-corruption agency said that it withdrew its investigators after they were blocked from entering Yoon's official residence due to concerns about the safety of its members. It says it expresses “serious regret about the attitude of the suspect, who did not respond to a process by law.
The office added that it would discuss further actions, however, it did not immediately reveal whether it would make another attempt to detain Yoon. The warrant for his detention is valid for one week.
Presidential security service blocks entry
Earlier, South Korean investigators spent hours waiting outside Yoon's official residence as the presidential security service blocked them from executing a warrant to detain him.
Yoon's lawyers, who filed a challenge to the warrant on Thursday, say it cannot be enforced at his residence due to a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge. The warrant is valid for one week.
A situation of standoff
Thousands of police officers gathered at Yoon's residence on Friday, forming a perimeter around a growing group of pro-Yoon protesters who braved subfreezing temperatures for hours, waving South Korean and American flags while chanting slogans in his support. There were no immediate reports of major clashes outside the residence.
Nearly five hours after dozens of investigators and police officers were seen entering the gate of the residence in Seoul to execute a warrant for Yoon's detention, the dramatic scene appeared to have developed into a standoff. Two of Yoon's lawyers, Yoon Kap-keun and Kim Hong-il, were seen entering the gate of the presidential residence around noon.
(With agency inputs)
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