"Warrant dismissed!" "Warrant dismissed!"
As President Yoon Suk-yeol arrived at the Seoul Western District Court around 1:54 p.m. on the 18th in a transport vehicle, approximately 1,800 cheering supporters gathered nearby shouted slogans. Since the police had previously dispersed supporters staging a sit-in at the front gate, no clashes occurred.
Earlier, about 200 supporters of President Yoon had gathered at the front gate of the Seoul Western District Court in Gongdeok-dong, Mapo-gu, since the previous night, vowing to prevent the issuance of an arrest warrant requested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO). They formed a human chain in front of the main gate, chanting "Release the president" and "Illegal arrest falsified documents."
The police announced in the morning that "The front of the court is a prohibited assembly area" and issued a dispersal order. The riot police began dispersing the crowd at 9:05 p.m. and concluded within 30 minutes. During this process, a man was arrested on the spot for allegedly assaulting a police officer.
Afterward, the supporters of President Yoon dispersed to three locations about 100 meters away from the court's front gate to stage a sit-in. Around 11 p.m., when news broke that President Yoon would attend the pre-arrest interrogation (warrant substantive examination) taking place at the Western District Court, a message in the group chat encouraged supporters to "Gather at the Western District Court," leading to an influx of participants.
They held the Korean and American flags, and displayed placards supporting President Yoon, such as "I will fight for President Yoon Suk-yeol." They chanted slogans such as "Falsified documents illegal arrest" and "Warrant dismissal impeachment invalid." There were also placards claiming that the last general election was fraudulent, with phrases like "Open the election commission server" and "Stop the steal." Stop the steal is a slogan used by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in the United States. Some were also wearing hats with the name Trump.
The protestors hurled abusive language at the police. One protestor facing the police held a sign that read, "Are you arresting the president? Is this why you became a police officer?" A female protestor shouted, "Out with the reds!" In relation to the police dispersing them from the front of the Western District Court, one participant shouted, "Who do the police think they are to block us, you leftist bastards!"
Kim Hyo-jin, 42, who participated in the rally, said, "This martial law is meant to catch the fraudulent elections. I think that is right," adding, "It's unfair that he was taken in for doing the right thing. I came out alone to protect the president."
President Yoon departed from the main gate of the Seoul Correctional Institution in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, around 1:26 p.m. in a Staria passenger transport vehicle provided by the Ministry of Justice and arrived at the Western District Court 28 minutes later. The vehicle entered the underground parking lot of the court, preventing President Yoon and his supporters from meeting.