Yoon, 64, also faces trial in South Korea’s Constitutional Court to determine whether to uphold his Dec. 14 impeachment by lawmakers, which suspended him from presidential duties.
He did not attend the first day of proceedings Tuesday, citing security concerns. The hearing ended after about four minutes. A second hearing is set for Thursday.
The warrant was executed far more smoothly Wednesday than during the first attempt, when Yoon’s presidential bodyguards faced off with law enforcement officers for almost six hours, saying they were required by law to protect the president.
Investigators withdrew but said they would take all necessary measures in their next attempt, and the warrant was re-issued last week after having expired.
South Korea’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, had raised concerns about possible clashes Wednesday between authorities and the presidential bodyguards.
“This moment is a crucial one for maintaining order and the rule of law in the Republic of Korea,” he said, using South Korea’s formal name. “The entire nation and the international community are closely watching this situation.”
The CIO had said about 1,000 police officers would be deployed Wednesday to assist with executing the warrant. Authorities also warned that anyone who tried to obstruct them could face arrest themselves.
Yoon’s supporters have said that opponents are trying to humiliate him and that dragging him out of his residence in handcuffs could spark a “civil war” in a country deeply divided along ideological and generational lines.
“He is being treated as though he were a member of a South American drug cartel,” Chung Jin-suk, Yoon’s chief of staff, said Tuesday.
Lawyers for Yoon said that the warrant was invalid for jurisdictional reasons and that the law does not allow searches of locations that could contain military secrets, such as the presidential compound, without consent.
Yoon, who took office in 2022 for a single five-year term, has struggled to advance his legislative agenda against the opposition-controlled parliament.
In a surprise late-night address on Dec. 3, he accused “anti-state forces” of paralyzing the government and sympathizing with communist North Korea and declared emergency martial law, which included a ban on all political activity.
He lifted the martial law order, South Korea’s first since 1980, about six hours later, after lawmakers voted unanimously to reject it.
Though Yoon has apologized for the order, which he said was within his power as president to issue, he has repeatedly defied summonses to appear for questioning in the criminal investigation.
The episode has deeply shaken South Korea, which has a long history of military-authoritarian rule but has transitioned into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies and the world’s 10th-largest economy.
Stella Kim reported from Seoul and Jennifer Jett from Hong Kong.
