Impeached president resists arrest over martial law bid

An incumbent president cannot be prosecuted for abuse of power,

said the president’s lawyer

Execute Yoon Suk Yeol".

One protester, No Seung-gap, 52, waved a huge flag that read

The pro-Yoon crowd was overwhelming, with around 500 to 600 people surrounding us, and more kept joining... leading to assaults and verbal abuse,

Bae added

I felt that if we had stayed just five more minutes, a serious incident could have occurred,

Bae added, saying

Please let the world know that the South Korean people won't stand for this ridiculous attempt to destroy our democracy,

he added

I couldn't sleep for days so I came out here in frustration,

he said

We expect the CIO (Corruption Investigation Office) will enter through the main gate... so our colleagues are lying down to prevent them,

pro-Yoon protester Rhee Kang-san, 35, told AFP

We had to withdraw. Most participants were hit and assaulted multiple times by those waving national flags,

said Bae Hoon, a 46-year-old protesting for Yoon's removal

As if trying to stage insurrection wasn’t enough, he is now inciting his supporters to an extreme clash,

a party spokesperson, Jo Seoung-lae, said in a statement

I will fight until the end to protect this country together with you,

he said in the letter, a photo capture of which was sent to the media by Seok Dong-hyeon, a lawyer advising Yoon

I am watching on YouTube live all the hard work you are doing,

Yoon wrote late on Wednesday to the hundreds of supporters who had gathered near his official residence to protest against the investigation into him

The president is at the (official presidential) residence,

he said

Even if he survives impeachment and returns to his job, the president will not be able to effectively govern the nation. The best course of action from him would be to take responsibility for his actions and step down. That’s how a developed democracy should work,

Hahm said

It's more about an imperial president than an imperial presidency. The problem arises when an authoritarian and incompetent individual takes the helm and the bureaucratic system fails to provide the necessary checks, with no one in the government willing to say 'no' to the leader,

Hahm said

However, now is not the time to make the change,

the professor stressed

If Yoon can throw South Korea into political disarray on a disingenuous pretense as he did in December, who’s to say any future South Korean president won’t do so as well? Washington will now second-guess Seoul’s reliability and readiness,

said Sean King, senior vice president at Park Strategies, a New York-based consulting firm

South Korea is effectively without a functioning government just as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is toying with the idea of directly reengaging North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un without even consulting Seoul,

King added

Who — or what — even is (the role of) Seoul right now?"

While some still hold out

While the current presidential system is a much-improved version compared to the military dictatorship era, it still grants excessive power to the president and leaves it largely unchecked,

Im said

Yoon could not have picked a worse time for his scandalous martial law misdeeds,

he added