South Korean police began dialing up their security levels Thursday in preparation for a Constitutional Court ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, as they sealed off areas around the court.
Police took the alert to the second-highest level Thursday and said they would issue the top alert Friday, enabling the deployment of 100 percent of the force. The top alert is typically issued in response to the potential for mass casualty events, acts of terrorism or major disasters.
Police have already cleared a 150-meter (490-foot) radius around the courthouse.
“The area surrounding the court is basically sealed off from any protesters,” an official from the Korean National Police Agency, told AFP.
The move comes as multiple embassies — including the United States and France — have issued warnings to their citizens to avoid political rallies or mass gatherings in connection to Friday’s verdict.
Authorities are hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2017 presidential impeachment ruling, when four people died after the court upheld the removal of former president Park Geun-hye.
At the time, Park’s supporters clashed with authorities, piling onto police buses, smashing windows with wooden sticks and assaulting officers.
Ahead of Friday’s ruling, schools, embassies, major corporations, tourist sites and museums near the courthouse announced they would be closed.
Lee Ho-young, acting chief of the Korean National Police Agency, has said the ongoing situation has become “more grave than ever”, citing “threats to the safety of key figures” and possibility of violent and illegal incidents.
Yoon plunged democratic South Korea into political turmoil when he declared martial law on December 3, suspending civilian rule and sending soldiers to parliament.
The suspended president still commands the backing of extreme supporters — who include controversial religious figures and YouTubers — who have staged protests for weeks in the run-up to the verdict.
Pro-Yoon rallies turned violent in January when extremist supporters, angered by the court’s approval of Yoon’s formal arrest warrant, stormed a Seoul courthouse, injuring at least 50 police officers and vandalising the building by smashing windows and doors.
Since the martial law bid, South Korea has effectively been “a leaderless state” and “unable to effectively stem the tide of violence”, Vladimir Tikhonov, Korean Studies professor at the University of Oslo, told AFP.
Police said its forces will also be deployed to the National Assembly, media companies and the headquarters of both ruling and opposition parties.
In Seoul, more than 14,000 riot police will be deployed, and are currently closely monitoring around 20 YouTubers for possible violations and illegal actions, police said.
At least six of the Constitutional Court’s eight justices must vote to remove Yoon. Otherwise, he will be reinstated.
