President Yoon Suk Yeol was taken into custody by a joint probe team at 10:33 a.m. Wednesday, according to police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, 12 days after being repelled in its initial attempt to detain him.

Yoon arrived at the CIO headquarters of the CIO in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, for questioning over his martial law declaration in December.

Yoon, 64, became the first sitting president in South Korean history to be in custody. In the next 48 hours, Yoon will be held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, 16 kilometers south of Yoon’s residence. He was taken into custody 43 days after he abruptly declared a martial law on Dec. 3, throwing the nation into unprecedented political crisis.

Immediately after he was taken into custody, Yoon’s representatives released a prerecorded statement from the president. In it, Yoon said that he complied not because he “acknowledged the (legitimacy of) the procedure” but because he hoped to prevent violent conflict. The CIO investigation and the execution of an warrant is illegal and invalid, he said.

A warrant was also issued to detain the Presidential Security Service’s acting chief Kim Sung-hoon, who led Yoon’s bodyguards in blocking the investigators’ access to the presidential residence.

Thousands of personnel from a joint probe team passed through three sets of barricades on their way to Yoon’s residence from its main gate, which were set up by Yoon’s security guards to deter the investigators’ access to the presidential residence.

As the joint probe team of police and the CIO arrived before dawn, Yoon’s legal representatives reiterated their claims that the extended court warrant was invalid.

Speaking at the scene of the standoff, they said the attempt to serve the warrant violated articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Procedure Act, which bans any seizure and search attempts in a place — including the presidential residence — where secret military matters are held without the permission of the authority in charge.

At least 20 lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party including Reps. Yoon Sang-hyun and Kim Gi-hyeon, were also at the scene before dawn Wednesday. Rep. Kim blasted the investigation for “insulting, shaming and bullying the president.”

Some 6,500 people held a rally near the presidential residence to support Yoon as the joint probe team arrived, according to police. At least one person was reportedly injured during the rally but refused to be hospitalized.

This was the second attempt to detain Yoon by the joint investigation team, which seeks to lay charges against him for power abuse and insurrection, among other offenses,

In the previous attempt on Jan. 3, some 150 investigators and police attempted to detain Yoon, but were outnumbered by approximately 200 Presidential Security Service and military personnel, who formed a human barricade. The investigators eventually withdrew from the presidential residence due to safety concerns.

It has been reported that veteran personnel of the police’s Mobile Detective Unit, Narcotics Investigation Unit and Anti-Corruption Investigation Unit have been dispatched for the warrant execution, and separated into two teams to detain Yoon and handle the confrontation with the PSS, respectively.

The police are also reportedly considering measures to arrest any individuals who obstruct the team’s investigation, including the deputy chief of the PSS Kim Seong-hoon and the head of the Bodyguard Division Lee Kwang-woo who had warrants for their detention issued against them Tuesday night.

But the PSS have said the same about personnel who try to execute the warrant, as the CIO and the PSS argued over the access to the presidential residence Tuesday night.

The CIO announced that the 55th Security Brigade, a military unit responsible for guarding the perimeter of the presidential compound, agreed to grant the investigators access to a total of 11 areas around Yoon’s residence.

However, the 55th Security Brigade is under the control of the PSS, which denied the state anti-corruption agency’s claim, stating that it had not approved the investigators’ access.

The CIO conceded it had received two official documents from the 55th Security Brigade — the entry approval for the joint probe unit confirmed by the unit’s commander, but also a statement to inform the CIO that it needs additional authorization from the PSS as the military unit cannot grant the full entry approval on its own.

“The access approval of 55th Security Brigade is valid. But another approval is required from the Security Service,” the CIO said.

Yoon’s legal team warned Tuesday that the CIO was not only executing an invalid warrant, but also conducting an unconstitutional investigation and spreading false information.

The lawyers said the joint investigative team’s access to the presidential compound had not been approved, and warned the joint probe unit would be taken into custody on suspicion of illegal trespassing of the area, which is designated as a military facility.

Rep. Kwon Seong-song, floor leader of Yoon’s ruling People Power Party, told reporters that the joint probe unit should stop its operation on Wednesday morning, claiming the CIO does not have authority to investigate allegations of insurrection and its warrant is invalid, according to the local media outlet Hankook Ilbo.

The authorities’ previous attempt to take the president into custody was suspended after a five-hour standoff with the PSS.

The extended warrant to detain Yoon on allegations related to the short-lived martial law declaration is reportedly set to expire on Jan. 21.

Asia News Network/The Korea Hearald