Threatened To Be Arrested For Military Emergency, Yoon Suk-yeol: I Will Fight Until The End

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. (Wikimedia Commons/KOCIS Official/Kim sun joo)

JAKARTA - South Korean president impeached Yoon Suk-yeol said he would fight until the end in a letter sent to his supporters when authorities had a mandate to arrest him in connection with a military emergency declaration earlier last month, a lawyer said on Thursday.

"I watched on YouTube live all the hard work you did," Yoon wrote in a letter addressed to hundreds of supporters who had gathered near his official residence to protest his investigation late Wednesday.

"I will fight until the end to protect this country with you," he said in the letter, whose photo was sent to Reuters by Seok Dong-hyeon, Yoon's lawyer.

Meanwhile, the opposition to the Democratic Party of Korea, which has majority control in parliament and led Yoon's impeachment on December 14, said the letter proved Yoon was mandated and remains committed to resolving his "insurgency".

"As if trying to insurgency was not enough, he is now inciting his supporters for extreme clashes," party spokesman Jo Seoung-lae said in a statement.

Earlier, a court on Tuesday approved a warrant for Yoon's arrest, potentially making him the first president to be detained as part of an investigation into charges of brokering an uprising by trying to impose a military emergency.

The rebellion is one of the few criminal charges that the South Korean president cannot bear.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High Officials (CIO), which leads a joint team of investigators including the police and prosecutors, has until January 6 to carry out an arrest warrant.

It is unclear when and how the arrests will be made and whether the president's security service, which has blocked the investigator's access with a search warrant to Yoon's office and his official residence, will try to stop the arrest attempt.

Yoon Kab-keun, Yoon's lawyer said the arrest warrant was illegal and invalid because CIO did not have the authority under South Korean law to request a warrant.

The lawyer on Thursday warned police officers would face arrests by "any president's security service or citizen" if they tried to detain Yoon on behalf of CIO, saying their authority was limited to crowd control and maintaining public order.

Separately, Yoon's trial for impeachment is being tried at the Constitutional Court. The court will hold a second hearing on Friday.

Yoon has been suspended from presidential duty. Currently, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok has taken over as acting president until the outcome of the trial.

If the court approves impeachment and Yoon is removed from office, a new presidential election will be held within 60 days.

It is known that Yoon's arrest warrant and his office search and residence were issued after the conservative prosecutor opposed repeated calls by investigators to appear during an investigation into a separate criminal investigation from the Constitutional Court's trial.

A former defense minister who officials say recommends Yoon to impose martial law has been charged with insurgency charges and will stand trial on January 16.

Several high-ranking military officers who led the capital's defense, Seoul, have also been charged with their alleged involvement.