South Korean police have raided the presidential office as part of an investigation into Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration, while officials told parliament the country’s former defence chief attempted suicide in custody.
The dramatic developments on Wednesday came after authorities earlier arrested former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun and the heads of the national and Seoul metropolitan police agencies over their alleged involvement in President Yoon’s short-lived decree, which has plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into its biggest political crisis in decades.
Cho Ji-ho, the commissioner-general of the Korean National Police Agency, and Kim Bong-sik, the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were also arrested on insurrection charges.
Cho and Kim, who were detained without warrant, can be held for up to 48 hours before they are formally arrested.
Yoon, who has been slapped with an overseas travel ban by prosecutors, is also under criminal investigation for alleged treason.
On Tuesday, the National Assembly passed a bill to appoint an independent special counsel to investigate Yoon and other top officials after the Democratic Party argued that public prosecutors could not be trusted to conduct a proper probe given the president’s former role as the country’s top prosecutor.
Yoon sent shockwaves throughout South Korea when he announced martial law in a late-night televised address on December 3, citing the need to “safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces” and “eliminate antistate elements”.
Quite the shitshow. We think of South Korea as a stable, western-style government, but appearances may be misleading.
