Guards from the 55th Security Battalion, estimated to be mobilized instead of security personnel, are providing perimeter security for the residence.
On January 3rd, investigators from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) executed an arrest warrant for President Yoon Suk-yeol and attempted to enter the presidential residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul. Reports indicate they are currently in a standoff with military units inside the residence.
A special investigative unit of the police stated in a phone call, “It is presumed that a military unit, thought to be from the Capital Defense Command, is blocking the execution of the arrest warrant by the investigators.”
It is suspected that the 55th Security Battalion, responsible for guarding the residence, is involved. Instead of the Presidential Security Service, general soldiers from the battalion have reportedly been mobilized to hinder the execution of the warrant.
The 55th Security Battalion undertakes external security tasks inside the residence and is attached to the Presidential Security Service according to the Presidential Security Act. Consequently, the command and control authority of the 55th Security Battalion lies with the attached body, the Security Service, and the military is said to have no separate authority.
According to the current information, it is hypothesized that the attached battalion, originally tasked with external security, has been deployed to prevent the warrant execution in place of the Security Service personnel.
Lee Dae-hwan, Chief Prosecutor of the third division in charge of the CIO’s emergency martial law task force (TF), and his investigation team were on standby and entered the premises at 8:02 a.m. when the barricade was lifted.
The primary authority to execute the warrant resides with the CIO, but police officers, part of a joint investigative headquarters probing the December 3 martial law incident, are also dispatched to assist in collaboration.
The execution team consists of 150 personnel, including 30 from the CIO and 120 from the police special unit.