(3 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Seoul, South Korea – 3 January 2025
1. Various of scuffles between police and supporters of South Korea’s impeached Yoon Suk Yeol
2. Various of vehicles carrying investigators leaving after the anti-corruption agency withdrew its investigators
3. Various of rally
4. SOUNDBITE (Korean) Song Jong-jun, 40, Yoon Suk Yeol supporter:
"We, the people, cannot agree with this unjust warrant. The reason is that if a warrant is issued to detain even a sitting President in such unjust manner, if such precedent is set, what laws should normal citizens follow and what laws can protect us? That is why many people are saying this warrant is unjust. To those who are watching this interview, please join us in opposing this."
5. Various of rally
STORYLINE:
Supporters of South Korea’s impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol rallied outside his official residence on Friday.
It comes as South Korean investigators left Yoon’s residence after an almost six-hour standoff, when he defied their attempt to detain him.
It’s the latest confrontation in a political crisis that has paralyzed South Korean politics and seen two heads of state impeached in less than a month.
The country’s anti-corruption agency said it withdrew its investigators after the presidential security service blocked them from entering Yoon’s residence for hours, due to concerns about their safety.
The agency said its outnumbered investigators had several scuffles with presidential security forces and expressed “serious regret about the attitude of the suspect, who did not comply with the legal process.”
Outside the residence, a large group of pro-Yoon protesters braved freezing temperatures for hours, waving South Korean and American flags while chanting slogans vowing to protect him.
The National Police Agency said it planned to investigate the chief and deputy chiefs of the presidential security service on suspicion of obstructing official duty and summoned them for questioning on Saturday.
Yoon, a former prosecutor, has resisted investigators’ attempts to question him for weeks.
The last time he is known to have left the residence was on December. 12, when he went to the nearby presidential office to make a televised statement to the nation, making a defiant statement that he will fight efforts to oust him.
Investigators from the country’s anti-corruption agency are weighing charges of rebellion after Yoon, apparently frustrated that his policies were blocked by an opposition-dominated parliament, declared martial law on December 3 and dispatched troops to surround the National Assembly.
Parliament overturned the declaration within hours in an unanimous vote and impeached Yoon on December 14, accusing him of rebellion, while South Korean anti-corruption authorities and public prosecutors opened separate investigations into the events.
A Seoul court issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence on Tuesday, but enforcing them is complicated as long as he remains in his official residence.
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 office said it will discuss further actions but did not immediately say whether it would make another attempt to detain Yoon. The warrant for his detention is valid for one week.
AP video shot by Seong-bin Kang
===========================================================
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/5570858e59bc48139987dcf2cb2b215b
Author: AP Archive
Go to Source
News post in January 8, 2025, 9:04 am.
Visit Our Sponsor’s:
News Post In – News
