South Korean Police Raid President Yoon’s Office Over Martial Law As Ousted Minister Attempts Suicide
South Korean police raided President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office on Wednesday and one of his top lieutenants has tried to take his own life, officials said, amid a widening investigation into the U.S. ally’s decision to declare martial law last week.
The raid marks a dramatic escalation of the probe against Yoon and top police and military officers over the surprise Dec. 3 martial law declaration that plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy into a constitutional crisis.
The defence minister at the time, Kim Yong-Hyun, a close confidant of Yoon, attempted suicide using a shirt and underwear at a detention centre where he is being held following his arrest on Sunday, a Justice Ministry official told parliament.
He was now under observation and his life was not currently in danger, the official added.
Kim has resigned and apologised for his part in the short-lived imposition of emergency rule, saying he alone was responsible.
Soon after Yoon’s surprise late-night declaration of martial law, lawmakers including some members of his party voted to demand the president immediately rescind the order, which he did hours later.
Yoon is now the subject of a criminal investigation into insurrection allegations and is banned from leaving the country, but he has not been arrested or questioned by authorities.
The president, who has not been seen in public since Saturday, was absent during the police raid on this office. The raid was confirmed to Reuters by a presidential security service official.
Yonhap news agency said police investigators presented a search warrant that specified Yoon as the subject.
