South Korea standoff: The guards blocking President Yoon’s arrest

SEOUL: They made it past angry protesters and police barricades. But investigators trying to arrest the South Korean president on Friday (Jan 3) were thwarted by the impeached leader's security detail.

So who is still protecting Yoon Suk Yeol and why? AFP takes a look at what we know:

WHAT HAPPENED?

Investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) issued a warrant to detain Yoon for questioning over his Dec 3 declaration of martial law.

The judge specifically granted permission for them to enter a sensitive facility, as the presidential residence is classified.

But once inside, investigators said the Presidential Security Service (PSS) used minibuses and cars to block the driveway, then hundreds of PSS officers linked hands and formed a human chain to stop them.

Investigators pulled out, saying they feared for their safety.

"It is extremely worrying" because it was a standoff between different branches of government, said Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean studies professor at the University of Oslo.

The showdown was "so far bloodless, but nobody guarantees that it will be continuously bloodless", he added.

WHAT IS THE PSS?

Set up in 1963, the PSS is South Korea's equivalent of the US Secret Service - charged with protecting the country's top leader.

The detail recruits from the police, military and intelligence agencies but the president picks who runs it.

Yoon's first PSS chief was his school friend Kim Yong-hyun, who later became his defence minister. Kim is now detained over his role as a key instigator of the martial law fiasco but has remained loyal to Yoon even from prison.

While running the PSS, Kim reportedly gave the elite Capital Defence Command - where he used to serve as commander - sole charge of guarding the perimeter of the presidential office.

Traditionally at the presidential Blue House - which Yoon refused to move into in 2022 - police were also involved in presidential security.

The soldiers were the first to confront and block investigators from getting to Yoon.

WHO ARE THE SOLDIERS

The Capital Defence Command "is a unit similar to the United Kingdom's Royal Guard", Kim Ki-ho, a former army colonel who teaches at Seoul Christian University, told AFP.

The soldiers have a "strict chain of command", he said, and would have had to obey the PSS and not listen to police and investigators trying to reach Yoon.

"If they are instructed to provide protection, they have no choice but to comply," Kim said.

WHY IS THE PSS DOING THIS?

Within the PSS, there may be a "strong ultra-conservative ethos", said Tikhonov.

The PSS itself has a chequered history, enmeshed with South Korea's authoritarian past. At the peak of its power under military regimes in the 1970s, it wielded enormous power under then-president Park Chung-hee.

Its strength was even a factor in an internal power struggle that culminated with Park's assassination by his intelligence chief in 1979.

After this, the PSS was largely declawed, but it is still granted sweeping powers by the Presidential Security Act, which allows it to secure a location for the president.

IS THIS ALLOWED?

On Friday, the PSS invoked these sweeping powers when it blocked investigators but experts are questioning if this was actually legal.

Civic groups and opposition politicians immediately filed criminal complaints against PSS chief Park Jong-jun, accusing him of obstructing justice.

Park and his subordinates "committed a completely illegal act and can be subject to punishment for obstructing official duties", Lim Ji-bong, a constitutional law professor at Sokang University, told AFP.

As PSS chief, Park could also be tried for "abuse of power," he said, calling blocking the warrant a constitutional violation.