President Yoon Suk-yeol is being blamed for the unprecedented violence that erupted when his supporters stormed the Seoul Western District Court shortly after it decided to formally arrest him. One of the reasons for the incident is that Yoon has used his extreme supporters as a physical and political defense after his short-lived martial law imposition on December 3 last year and encouraged distrust in the judiciary. On January 19, Yoon started to deal with the situation, asking for "peaceful expression of opinion,” but he does not seem to be free from criticism that he encouraged the damage to the rule of law, following the destruction of the constitutional order.

In response to the violent protests at the court in the early hours of the day, Yoon said through his lawyers that he asked his supporters to express their opinions in a peaceful way. He also added, “I fully understand the frustration and anger of the many people who stayed in front of the court until dawn.” Although he belatedly started to change his posture, doubts are raised about his sincerity. Yoon and his side have been publicly calling on his supporters to confront the authorities.

On January 1, the day after the first arrest warrant was issued, Yoon encouraged those who gathered outside his official residence in Hannam-dong, Seoul, to resist the execution of the arrest warrant, calling them “patriotic citizens.” “I will fight to the end to defend this country with you,” he wrote in a letter to them.

In a speech shortly after his arrest on the 15th, Yoon explicitly promoted distrust in the judiciary, saying that “all laws have been broken in this country.” In a post on social media after his detention at the Seoul Detention Center, he wrote, “I heard that many people are coming out into the cold streets and joining forces for the country. I am grateful for your patriotism.” In other words, by labeling those chanting “The martial law declaration was legal.” as “patriots,” he encouraged their continued resistance.

Yoon's lawyers did not hesitate to argue that citizens could arrest the police. “If the riot police start executing the arrest and search warrant, they can be arrested as a current offender by any citizen, including the Presidential Security Service,” Yoon's lawyer, Yoon Gap-geun, claimed on the 2nd, ahead of the first attempt to execute the arrest warrant. Just before President Yoon was arrested on the 15th, lawyer Seok Dong-hyun made a phone call with the far-right YouTube channel "Ko Sung-kuk TV" and said, "In fact, I really hope citizens to block the entrance of the presidential residence so that the president's vehicle cannot leave there.”

After the issuance of the warrant to officially arrest Yoon, Seok said, "The court rejected the orders of numerous people not to arrest President Yoon," adding, "Judges should keep in mind that they never have the authority to turn a blind eye to the people's aspirations." Critics say Yoon and his side are encouraging “targeting” at a time when his supporters threaten the judges who issued the arrest warrants and who dismissed the petition to review the legality of his arrest.

The ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) is also being blamed for the protesters’ court attack. The party's leadership stood idly by while some PPP members who opposed to Yoon’s impeachment flocked to the official residence and held a press conference for the newly-created “Paekkoltan” to collude with their extreme supporters, providing a rationale for criticizing the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) and the Seoul Western District Court. While calling for restraint in the violence, the PPP has defended the protesters, saying they are not solely to blame and characterizing them as “Asphalt Crusaders in the Holy War."