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South Korea the previous defense minister was prevented from attempting suicide while in custody last week state of war declaration, officials said Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party is pushing for a new impeachment motion against Yoon over his Dec. 3 decree imposing a state of emergency South Korea for the first time in more than four decades.
The first attempt to impeach Yoon last Saturday failed after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to submit a new proposal on Thursday to organize a vote on Saturday.
Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, North Korea’s rival state media reported unrest across the border for the first time, but the country showed no suspicious activity.
Shin Yong Hae, chief commissioner of the Korean Prison Service, told lawmakers that former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun had tried to kill himself the previous night at a detention center in Seoul. He said he was stopped by corrections officers and is in stable condition.
Kim was arrested by prosecutors early Wednesday on charges of playing a key role in the rebellion and abuse of power. He became the first person officially arrested under the state of emergency decree.
Kim, one of Yoon’s close aides, is accused of recommending that Yoon impose martial law and send troops into the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on the matter. A sufficient number of MPs eventually managed to enter the parliament chamber and unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the government to rescind it before dawn on December 4.
Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “profoundly apologizes for causing significant anxiety” to the public. He said that all responsibility for the imposition of martial law rested with him and pleaded for leniency towards the soldiers deployed to enforce it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to file charges against Kim.
Yoon’s office blocks the search of the presidential compound
Later on Wednesday, police detained National Police Agency chief Gen. Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police. They are accused of deploying police forces to parliament to prevent MPs from voting.
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The main focus of the investigation is to determine whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in the imposition of martial law committed rebellion. A conviction for sedition carries a maximum penalty of death.
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office on Wednesday to look for any evidence related to the imposition of martial law. But investigators were unable to enter the office until Wednesday night, about six hours after their arrival, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told parliament.
Some observers had previously said the presidential security service was unlikely to allow a search of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites containing state secrets without the approval of those in charge of those areas.
On Saturday, Yoon apologized for the state of emergency decree, saying he would not escape legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my mandate.”
A leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange the president’s smooth departure from office, saying the party would coordinate with cabinet members on state affairs and that Yoon would be removed from office.
The comments were criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional, and raised broad questions about who leads South Korea and its military at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea. On Tuesday, the Justice Department barred Yoon from leaving the country as he faces an investigation.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho reiterated on Wednesday that Yoon remains in charge of the military. But Yoon has not been involved in any major official activities since the lifting of martial law, other than accepting resignation offers from officials involved in the martial law case and the appointment of the head of the state’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
An article by North Korea’s state news agency on Wednesday reported on South Korea’s political chaos and protests sparked by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mostly tried to explain the South Korean events, although it called Yoon a “traitor” and his army “gangsters”.
Many experts say North Korea is vulnerable to the domestic spread of news of large-scale anti-government protests in foreign countries, as its own people have no official access to international news and could be affected by such events. The US State Department said on Monday that the US-South Korean alliance remains “solid” and that Washington is committed to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.
In his announcement of the state of emergency, the conservative Yoon stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korean followers and anti-state forces”, referring to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has had near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which has filed impeachment calls for some of its top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts say the state of emergency decree was unconstitutional. They say that by law the president can only declare a state of emergency during war or similar emergencies, but South Korea was in no such predicament. They claim that the deployment of troops to seal off the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to sedition because the constitution does not allow the president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he is removed from office, new presidential elections would be necessary.
