South Korean police attempt to raid Yoon’s office due to martial law by Reuters

Written by Hyunsoo Yim and Jack Kim

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean police tried to search President Yoon Suk-yul’s office on Wednesday but were unable to enter the main building, Yonhap News Agency reported, as the investigation into the U.S.-ally’s decision to declare martial law widens.

The attempted search of the presidential office leads to a major escalation in the investigation against Yoon and senior police and military officers over the Dec. 3 declaration of martial law that plunged the country, Asia’s fourth-largest economy, into a constitutional crisis.

Yoon is now under criminal investigation into the mutiny allegations and is banned from leaving the country, but has not been arrested or questioned by authorities.

A presidential security official said earlier on Wednesday that police were raiding Yoon’s office, confirming media reports at the time. Yonhap later said investigators at the presidential complex had not yet entered the main building.

Yonhap said that the police were unable to agree with the Secret Service on the method of seizure and inspection. The police declined to comment.

A presidential office official said: “We are responding based on the law and previous government issues,” and denied that the office was opposed to the inspection.

Former Defense Minister Kim Young-hyun, a close confidant of Yoon, and two senior police officers including the national police chief were arrested on charges of mutiny as part of the investigation.

A Justice Ministry official told Parliament that Kim attempted to commit suicide using a shirt and underwear late Tuesday evening at a detention center where he was being held.

The official added that he is now under observation and that his life is not in danger.

Kim resigned and apologized for his role in imposing a short-lived state of emergency, saying he alone was responsible.

Shortly after Yoon declared martial law late at night, lawmakers, including some members of his own party, voted to demand that the president immediately rescind the order, which he did hours later.

Arrest review

Yonhap said the president, who has not appeared in public since Saturday, is not believed to be at the presidential complex. The official headquarters is located in a separate location from the office.

Oh Dong-won, head of the Senior Officials Corruption Investigation Bureau and one of the agencies now investigating the martial law debacle, said his office was “prepared” to arrest Yoon if necessary.

Earlier on Wednesday, National Police Chief Cho Ji-ho became the latest senior official to be arrested, Yonhap said, on charges of deploying police to prevent lawmakers from entering Parliament.

Calls for Yoon’s arrest grew after senior military and government officials said he ordered troops into parliament on December 3 and prevented lawmakers from voting to reject martial law.

Yoon ordered troops to “break down the door now and get in there and pull out” the lawmakers, Kwak Jong-geun, commander of the military’s Special Warfare Command, told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Military officers also accused Yoon’s then Defense Minister, Kim, of issuing the same order.

Leadership crisis

Yoon’s grip on power looks increasingly precarious by the day. Yoon’s office said on Tuesday that he had “no official position” when asked who was in charge of the country.

The leader of the president’s People Power Party said Prime Minister Han Dak Su will manage state affairs while the party searches for an “orderly” way for the president to resign.

Opposition parties and some legal scholars have questioned the constitutional legitimacy of this arrangement.

The opposition Democratic Party said it intends to introduce a new impeachment bill on Wednesday with a vote on it on Saturday, a week after his first vote was defeated.

Since then, some members of the president’s party have spoken in favor of the proposal. Only eight members of the PPP would need to vote in favor of impeachment for it to pass with the full support of the opposition.

“The accountability train has left the stage. There will be no way to stop it,” Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung said at a party meeting.

Kim Jae-sub, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party who joined his party’s boycott of the first impeachment vote, said he would vote in favor of the motion this time and urged his party to do the same.

If Parliament votes to remove the president, the Constitutional Court deliberates the case and decides whether to remove the president from office.

The country’s metalworkers union, including workers at automaker Kia Corp, announced a protest strike on Wednesday. Members of financial institutions including the Bank of Korea plan to join a protest march on Wednesday.