People gather near South Korean presidential compound in support of Yoon

Thousands of people gathered a short way away from the presidential compound in Seoul on Saturday to show their support for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

On Friday, a group of prosecutors and investigators of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) arrived in the presidential residence in central Seoul, and attempted to arrest the impeached president over his short-lived martial law imposition on Dec 3, 2024.

Many supporters stayed throughout the night to not only show their support but also wait for the possible arrival of investigators. Many believe investigators will try again sometime over the weekend, saying that they will do whatever they can to prevent that from happening.

Supporters said the warrant itself against a sitting president is illegal as emotions run high in their support for Yoon, who technically is still the current sitting president, albeit his powers have been suspended until the Constitutional Court rules on his impeachment.

"I believe we have every right to resist an illegal arrest warrant. This is what due process is all about, isn't it? Since it doesn't follow lawful procedures, we are fully justified in resisting," said Lim Soo-jin, one of the protesters.

"I have come out to restore South Korea's liberal democracy. Isn't this absurd?" said Song Jung-ick, another protester.

The CIO noted that it stopped the execution at about 13:30 Friday over concerns about the safety of the investigators at the scene, expressing deep regret over the attitude of Yoon who refused to comply with legal procedures.

The detention warrant against Yoon was issued by a Seoul court on Tuesday to question the impeached leader over his martial law imposition on the night of Dec 3, 2024, which was revoked by the National Assembly hours later. Yoon had been named by investigative agencies as a suspected ringleader on insurrection charge.

The arrest warrant was scheduled to be effective for a week until Jan 6. If the investigators fail to execute their warrant, they could request an extension or even bypass detention and request a formal arrest warrant.

People gather near South Korean presidential compound in support of Yoon

Three freight trains with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour respectively departed from three Chinese cities on Monday, marking the country's official launch of cargo express trains.

One of the expresses departed from Langfang City in north China's Hebei Province with 43 containers, and is going to arrive in Changping Station in south China's Guangdong Province in over 30 hours.

"The route between (Hebei Province's) Guangyang District to (Guangdong Province's) Changping Town stretches 1,750 kilometers. The maximum speed of the train can reach 120 kilometers per hour. We set the price close to that of the road transportation, which is roughly the same," said Zhang Wansheng, deputy director of China Railway Beijing Group's freight transport department.

The cargo express trains mainly travel between economically developed areas, such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

There will be six lines, with all of them using container marshaling.

Clients are able to check the price and available spots of the containers online, and make bookings based on their needs.

"After we book the spot for containers, a fleet of trucks is dispatched to load goods directly at our location. Let's calculate the costs, it saves us about 15 percent in transportation cost," said Hou Bin, a person in charge of a logistics enterprise in Shanghai.

China launches cost-effective cargo express trains