South Korea’s Yoon will be jailed for a specified period, anti-graft chief says Political news

The head of the Anti-Corruption Investigation Department of high-ranking officials warns that anyone who obstructs the arrest may be prosecuted.

South Korea’s top anti-corruption investigator said impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will be detained until a warrant for his short-term martial law expires next week.

Oh Dong-woon, head of the Corruption Investigation Bureau for High-Ranking Officials, told reporters on Wednesday that Yoon’s arrest warrant would be executed “within a valid period,” the last day of which is Monday.

“We are planning a smooth process without major disturbances, but we are also coordinating to mobilize police and personnel in preparation,” Oh told reporters at the government complex in Gwacheon, south of Seoul.

He warned that anyone trying to prevent Yoon’s arrest could be prosecuted.

“We consider actions such as building various barricades and closing iron gates to resist the execution of our arrest warrant as an obstacle to the performance of official duties.”

Speculation about when and how authorities would take Yoon into custody ran high after the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff sought an arrest warrant for Yoon, which a Seoul court issued on Tuesday.

Yoon’s security detail had previously prevented investigators from executing several search warrants targeting the president, and local media suggested authorities could not forcibly arrest the embattled leader without coordinating with his bodyguards.

If arrested, Yoon would become the first president in South Korean history to be jailed.

He faces criminal charges of abuse of power and rebellion, punishable by life in prison or death, for briefly imposing martial law on Dec. 3, plunging South Korea into its biggest political crisis in decades.

Yoon’s legal team argued that the warrant was “illegal and invalid” because investigators did not have the authority to investigate the president for rebellion.

Yoon, who served as the country’s chief prosecutor before entering politics, was removed from his position on December 14 by the decision of the National Assembly. voted 204-85 to impeach him.

Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok has been acting president since Friday, when the legislature voted to impeach Yoon’s original successor, Han Duk-soo, for refusing to immediately appoint three judges to the country’s Constitutional Court.

The court is debating whether to uphold Yoon’s impeachment or reinstate him as president, a process that could take up to six months.

On Tuesday, Choi approved appointments for two judges nominated by parliament, leaving just one vacancy on the bench.

At least six justices on the nine-member court must approve Yoon’s impeachment before he can be removed from office.

Yoon argued that the brief martial law was legal and necessary, citing the threat of “anti-state forces” and obstruction by his opponents in the opposition.