Confusion in joint probe ahead of 2nd attempt to detain Yoon Suk Yeol

Confusion persisted Monday within the joint investigative body probing President Yoon Suk Yeol’s alleged insurrection and abuse of power, as the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials reversed its earlier decision to order police to detain the president. The abrupt reversal came seven hours after police resisted the directive, citing potential legal flaws.

Concerns also emerged over the CIO, the lead agency in the joint investigation, shifting its responsibilities onto police after failing to detain Yoon on Friday. The seven-hour brouhaha on Monday suggested discord between the agencies investigating one of the most high-profile cases in the history of the nation. The warrant to arrest Yoon was set to expire Monday at midnight.

As concerns over discord grew, the CIO said Monday afternoon it “reached a consensus with the police’s National Office of Investigation that any room for controversy cannot be tolerated.”

Earlier in the day, CIO officials announced they would no longer participate in efforts to forcibly enter Yoon’s presidential residence to detain him. The president has been under investigation after imposing martial law on Dec. 3.

While passing the duty of taking Yoon into custody to police, the CIO officials said they would be the ones questioning Yoon, not police.

In response, the police’s investigative body effectively rejected the CIO’s request.

Baek Dong-heum, a senior police officer of the National Office of Investigation in charge of probing Yoon’s insurrection allegations, told reporters Monday afternoon that the CIO’s request over the warrant execution carries unlawful elements.

After confirming they had reached an agreement with the CIO on continuing efforts to detain Yoon together, police stated they would consider detaining Yoon’s bodyguards if they attempted to obstruct efforts to execute the warrant.

Police also confirmed that the Presidential Security Service had deployed enlisted soldiers, apparently to thwart the attempted execution of a warrant for the president on Friday.

“Based on collected evidence, we have verified the involvement of enlisted soldiers to some extent,” an official said, while noting that the exact number of personnel remains unclear.

Police suspect the listed soldiers were deployed as a “human barricade” under the Presidential Security Service’s command.

On the same day, Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon, one of the ruling People Power Party lawmakers who made a presence at a rally of Yoon supporters near the president’s official residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, blasted the investigative bodies for confusion they created in trying to detain Yoon.

“It is shocking that a legal institution intending to detain the president is trying to execute a warrant so haphazardly while making such a fussy move,” he said before thousands of Yoon sympathizers.

Kim’s remarks came as 44 lawmakers of the ruling party stayed at the scene of the rally for about eight hours beginning early Monday morning.

Kim further argued that the court warrant should be considered invalid, asserting the court had “illegally” permitted investigators to access high-security areas. Addressing rally participants, he criticized those attempting to enforce the warrant as “obsessed with public opinion or blinded by their own ambitions.”

The joint investigation team launched on Dec. 11. The team had requested that Yoon be subject to questioning for alleged insurrection and abuse of power three times so far, all of which the president rejected.