South Korea the previous defense minister was prevented from attempting suicide while in custody last week martial law 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 a new motion to impeach Yoon over his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in over four decades.
Her first impeachment attempt against Yoon failed last Saturday after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it intended to present the new proposal on Thursday for a vote on Saturday.
Yoon's ill-conceived power grab paralyzed South Korean politics, froze its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. North Korea's rival state media first reported unrest across the border on Wednesday, but the country did not report any suspicious activity.
Shin Yong Hae, the commissioner general of the Korean Correctional Service, told lawmakers that former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun had tried to kill himself at a detention center in Seoul the night before. 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 uprising and of abuse of power. He became the first person formally arrested under martial law.
Kim, one of Yoon's close aides, was accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending soldiers to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on him. Eventually, enough lawmakers managed to enter the parliament chamber and unanimously rejected Yoon's decree, forcing the cabinet to revoke it before dawn on December 4.
In a statement on Tuesday, Kim said he was "deeply sorry for causing considerable distress" to the public. He said that all responsibility for imposing martial law rested on him and asked for leniency for the soldiers deployed to enforce it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to decide whether to charge Kim.
Yoon's office blocks search the presidential residence
Later on Wednesday, police detained National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji-ho and Kim Bong-sik, chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police. They were accused of deploying police forces to parliament to prevent lawmakers from voting.
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The main goal 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 for any evidence related to the imposition of martial law. But investigators were unable to enter the office on Wednesday night, about six hours after they arrived, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told parliament.
Some observers had previously said the Presidential Security Service was unlikely to authorize searches of Yoon's office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites with state secrets without the consent of those in charge of those areas.
On Saturday, Yoon apologized for the martial law decree, saying he would not avoid 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 tenure".
The leader of Yoon's ruling party later promised to arrange for the president's smooth exit from office, with the party coordinating with cabinet members on state affairs and Yoon being removed from duty.
The comments have been criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional and have raised wide-ranging questions about who is in charge of 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 command of the military. But Yoon has not taken part in any major official activities since martial law was lifted, other than accepting resignation offers from officials involved in the martial law case and being appointed head of the country'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 military "gangsters".
Many experts say that North Korea is sensitive to domestic news of large anti-government protests in foreign countries because its own people do not have official access to international news and could be affected by such events. The US State Department said on Monday that the US-South Korea alliance remains "ironclad" and that Washington is committed to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.
In his martial law declaration, Yoon, a conservative, stressed the need to rebuild the country by removing "unabashed North Korean supporters and anti-state forces", a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has been at near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which has filed motions to impeach some of its top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. It is said that the president can legally declare martial law only during war or similar emergencies, but South Korea was not in such a situation. They argue that the deployment of troops to seal off the National Assembly to suspend its political activities was tantamount to rebellion 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 were to be removed from office, new presidential elections would be necessary.
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