The suspended president, who issued a bungled declaration on Dec 3, which shook the vibrant East Asian democracy and briefly lurched it back to the dark days of military rule, now faces arrest, imprisonment or, at worst, the death penalty.
“The execution of the arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol has begun,” said the corruption investigation office (CIO), which is probing Yoon’s short-lived declaration, with its officials and police seen entering the president’s residence.
Yoon, who has already been suspended from duty by lawmakers, will become the first sitting president in South Korean history to be arrested.
CIO investigators, including senior prosecutor Lee Dae-hwan, were let through heavy security barricades to enter the residence and attempt to execute their warrant to detain Yoon, AFP reporters saw.
However, they were “blocked by a military unit inside” after entering, the Yonhap news agency reported.
It had been unclear whether the presidential security service, which still protects Yoon as the country’s sitting head of state, would comply with investigators’ warrants.
Members of his security team have previously blocked attempted police raids of the presidential residence, but it was not immediately clear which unit had blocked investigators on Friday.
Yoon’s legal team decried the attempt to execute the arrest warrant, vowing to take further legal action against the move.
“The execution of a warrant that is illegal and invalid is indeed not lawful,” Yoon’s lawyer Yoon Kap-keun said.
Dozens of police buses and hundreds of uniformed police lined the street outside the compound in central Seoul, AFP reporters saw.
Some 2,700 police and 135 police buses have been deployed to the area to prevent clashes, Yonhap reported, after Yoon’s supporters faced off with anti-Yoon demonstrators on Thursday.
Yoon has been holed up inside the residence since a court approved the warrant to detain him earlier this week, vowing to “fight” authorities seeking to question him.
South Korean media have reported that CIO officials want to arrest Yoon and take him to their office in Gwacheon near Seoul for questioning.
After that, he can be held for up to 48 hours on the existing warrant. Investigators need to apply for another arrest warrant to keep him in custody.
After staging chaotic protests on Thursday, a handful of Yoon’s die-hard supporters, which include far-right YouTube personalities and evangelical Christian preachers, had camped outside his compound all night – some holding all-night prayer sessions.
“Illegal warrant is invalid” they chanted early Friday, as police and media gathered outside the residence.
“Yoon Suk-yeol, Yoon Suk-yeol,” they yelled, waving red glow sticks.
Pro-Yoon protester Rhee Kang-san told AFP many were “rooting for the president” to survive the arrest attempt.
“We are sending him our wishes. Many of our colleagues stayed overnight to show their support. We will continue to do the same today, no matter what happens later,” he said.
Yoon’s lawyer confirmed to AFP on Thursday that the impeached leader remained inside the presidential compound.
Yoon’s legal team had already filed for an injunction to a constitutional court to block the warrant, calling the arrest order “an unlawful and invalid act”, and also submitted an objection to the Seoul court that ordered it.
However, the head of the CIO, Oh Dong-woon, has warned that anyone trying to block authorities from arresting Yoon could themselves face prosecution.
Along with the summons, a Seoul court issued a search warrant for his official residence and other locations, a CIO official told AFP.
South Korean officials have previously failed to execute similar arrest warrants for lawmakers – in 2000 and 2004 – due to party members and supporters blocking police for the seven days the warrants were valid.