Head of South Korea Yoon’s security finds himself in spotlight By Reuters

By Hyunjo Jin

SEOUL (Reuters) – The man central to blocking investigators from arresting South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol has been thrust into the spotlight in a political crisis sparked by Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law last month.

Park Chong-joon, who reports directly to Yoon, was instrumental in rejecting an attempt by investigators to issue an arrest warrant for Yoon on Friday, sparking a six-hour standoff at Yoon’s official residence.

Presidential guards and the military prevented authorities from arresting Yun for the alleged rebellion until Monday.The anti-graft agency, which is leading the investigation with police, said on Friday it was working out its next steps.

Yoon’s declaration of martial law on December 3 stunned South Korea and led to his impeachment and removal from office on December 14. The president’s political fate rests in the hands of the Constitutional Court.

A number of law enforcement agencies battle Yoon’s forces for her legal fate, with Park in a pivotal position.

Park, appointed by Yoon in September, has already played a role in preventing investigators from issuing search warrants for the president’s offices and residences, citing national security.

“The Presidential Security Service exists solely for the absolute safety of the security target,” Park said in a statement posted on the service’s website, adding that its mission to protect the president “at all times” must not be compromised.

He used that rationale to push back Friday’s efforts to arrest Yun, arguing that investigators were overstepping the bounds of security laws and offending some security officials.

“OUT OF CONTROL”

Critics worry that the Park Service is overreaching.

“The presidential security service is a dangerous institution whose power can get out of hand,” said Han Sung-Wun, a professor of police administrative law at Dongshin University.

“Since only the president has the power to control it, the security service can abuse power and turn into the president’s private army.”

The anti-graft body, the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), said it had to call off Friday’s arrest attempt due to safety concerns for its staff.

Yun’s security service and the troops under his control outnumbered the arrested officials, the CIO said. At one point, Yun’s men reportedly formed a human chain of about 200 people to block access to Yun and his official residence, while buses. and military vehicles were also used as blockades.

On Friday, police said they would investigate Park for possible obstruction of justice, asking him to appear for questioning. He declined for now, saying that at this critical moment he could not be away from work even for a moment.

Park and his deputy were in talks to respond to investigators in the future, the security service said.

The police on Saturday asked him to appear on Tuesday.

Yun’s lawyers argue that the CIO lacks the authority to investigate the rebellion, making the arrest warrant illegal.

On Tuesday, the court approved the warrant, the first against a sitting president, after Yun ignored repeated subpoenas for questioning.

STATISTICAL HISTORY

Critics of the presidential security service call it a relic of South Korea’s strongman leadership that ruled until the late 1980s.

It was placed under the direct control of the president during the days of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s, and was run by loyal aides who wielded enormous power.

After the 2016 impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye, lawmakers, calling the service a “child of a military authoritarian regime,” proposed changes to transfer it to a police agency.

They also sought to demote his leadership, but reform efforts appear to have stalled.

Park’s predecessor in the presidential security service is Kim Yong-hyun, a close ally of Yoon, who stepped down in September when he was appointed defense minister.

Kim has since resigned from the latter post and been indicted on charges of sedition, accused of a key role in proposing and orchestrating the martial law experiment.

The declaration, which Yun rescinded six hours after the opposition-controlled parliament opposed him, banned political activity and sought to control the media.

Park, a former high-ranking police official who failed in two bids for parliament in 2012 and 2016, graduated from the Korea National Police University in his class and became deputy chief of the national police agency in 2011.

In 2012, he helped conservative Park Geun-hye run for president, then became her deputy presidential security chief until 2015.

At the time of the appointment of Park Chong-joon, head of the presidential security service, Yoon’s chief of staff said he would help establish an “advanced security system.”

The opposition demanded his arrest to block Yun’s arrest and called for an investigation into his alleged role in the martial law declaration.

Previously questioned as a witness as part of the investigation into that statement, he denied the allegations, according to the media.