Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00First this hour, it is their second attempt to take him into custody.
00:05Investigators are at the official residence of the South Korean president as they again
00:09try to execute a warrant for his arrest over his botched attempt to impose martial law.
00:16Yoon Suk-yool hasn't left his residence in Seoul for weeks.
00:20Eleven days ago, the Presidential Security Service blocked dozens of investigators and
00:24police from detaining him after a nearly six-hour standoff.
00:29As you can see in these live images coming in to us from Seoul, thousands of his supporters
00:35have gathered outside the residence as have up to a thousand police officers while lawmakers
00:42have formed a human chain to try to block access to the building.
00:47For the very latest, let's cross live now to our regional correspondent, Yenna Lee is
00:51standing by for us.
00:53Yenna, we're seeing reports now that police appear to be pushing into the residence or
00:57trying to do so at least.
00:59What exactly is happening there?
01:01It's an extremely tense situation outside the president's office.
01:07President's residence in central Seoul, conservative lawmakers from Yoon's People's Power Party,
01:13the president's lawyers and Yoon's supporters have been trying to block the police from
01:18advancing at the main entrance.
01:21Reporters on the ground describe chaotic scenes that have at times become physical.
01:26Local media says that one person has reportedly been injured.
01:31Officers are attempting to breach the barricades from multiple entry points.
01:36There are some 160 police vans involved, some spotted with ladders.
01:42It's also worthy to note that on this Wednesday, around 1,000 officers have been deployed for
01:48the second arrest attempt, and they've been told to prepare for a scenario that could
01:53last up to three days.
01:55Yoon's lawyers say that the attempts to arrest him are illegal and invalid, that these attempts
02:03amount to insurrection.
02:04Whilst the anti-corruption body trying to reach the president says that they will arrest
02:10those who block their path for obstruction of justice.
02:14Now, this comes after a first failed attempt.
02:17You might remember on January 3rd, around 150 police and investigators tried to bring
02:23the president in for questioning, but they were met with around 200 of Yoon's presidential
02:28guards who created a human wall and refused to let investigators through.
02:33And we can see, Yana, in the live images coming into us there, as you say, over 100 police
02:38vans, up to 1,000 police officers, seemingly.
02:42As you say, it's the second attempt to try to arrest the South Korean president.
02:47Remind us how exactly we got to this point.
02:50Well, President Yoon Se-kyo declared martial law on December 3rd, and it was a controversial
02:55power grab that he defended as necessary as the opposition-controlled National Assembly
03:00was quote-unquote blocking state affairs.
03:04That martial law attempt only lasted around six hours, and since then he's been pretty
03:08much holed up in his compound.
03:11Parliament impeached him 11 days later, and now the country's top court is deciding his
03:16fate.
03:17Meanwhile, separately, special prosecutors opened this probe into insurrection against
03:22him, and for the first time in Korean history, charged a sitting president with a crime.
03:28Yoon has refused to cooperate, not showing up to three summonses, which led to arrest
03:33warrants being issued against him.
03:36But these arrest warrants haven't been without controversy.
03:38Yoon's ruling conservatives insist that they're deeply regrettable and possibly illegal, whilst
03:44opposition Democrats have been accusing investigators of being incompetent and underprepared, putting
03:50more pressure on the anti-corruption body to make progress for the second arrest attempt.
03:55Tense scenes, as you say there, Yana.
03:58That is our regional correspondent, Yana Lee.
04:00Yana will be, of course, staying across that story.
04:03We'll bring you further news soon as we get it.
04:06Moving on, firefighters in Laos.