[尹 체포 불발]
Ministry of Public Prosecution: Order to cooperate with National Security Agency warrant
“We will make strong demands on Acting Director Choi Sang-mok.”
Withdrew after failing to execute arrest warrant
At around 1:30 p.m. on the 3rd, officials from the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office and police stopped attempting to execute the arrest warrant for President Yoon Seok-yeol and are withdrawing from the presidential residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Reporter Jang Seung-yoon [email protected]
The legal community pointed out that the High-ranking Public Officials Crime Investigation Office (KOFIC) withdrew from executing the arrest warrant for President Yoon Seok-yeol after about five and a half hours, saying, “Maybe they gave up too early?” Even within the police, who worked with the Corruption Investigation Office to make the arrest, there was regret that “we should have held on a little longer.”
On the 3rd, when 80 members of the ‘arrest team’ of the Airborne Corruption Investigation Agency and the police crossed the first and second cordons of the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, there was speculation within the two agencies that arrests would be possible. However, only three prosecutors, including Lee Dae-hwan, head of the 3rd investigation department of the Corruption Investigation Office, arrived at the third cordon in front of President Yoon’s official residence, and the atmosphere is said to have changed when news broke that the execution was abandoned due to a scrum by the Presidential Security Service. Inside the police, which has a lot of experience executing warrants, there was a response, saying, “We should have bought as much time as possible at the third cordon and waited for help to arrive,” and “It’s unfortunate that the airborne investigation agency, which lacks investigative experience, seems to have given up too easily.”
Even regarding the arrest of Park Jong-jun, the head of the National Security Agency, the positions of the Corruption Investigation Office and the police were mixed. It is known that the police tried to arrest high-ranking officials of the National Security Agency, including Director Park, who blocked the execution of the arrest warrant on this day, on charges of obstruction of special official duties, but the Corruption Investigation Office reportedly dissuaded them due to concerns about armed conflict. An official from the Public Prosecution Service said, “This was a measure taken based on a comprehensive judgment, taking into account the confrontation situation at the time and the number of people on site.”
Since the police failed even after mobilizing a large number of experienced personnel, up to 2,700 people, it is difficult to guarantee the possibility of further execution success. The Corruption Investigation Office announced that it plans to strongly demand that Acting President Choi Sang-mok order the National Security Agency to execute the arrest warrant.
There were continued concerns in the legal community that the Corruption Investigation Office was still lacking in investigative power, as it had not been able to arrest a single person or obtain a conviction since its launch in January 2021. The Corruption Investigation Office was the only prosecutor to get a guilty verdict in the first trial against Prosecutor Son Jun-seong, who directly indicted him in the so-called ‘instigation of accusation’ case, but was overturned as not guilty on appeal.
Reporter Heo Dong-jun [email protected]
Reporter Lee Sang-hwan [email protected]
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