Yoon’s head of security in spotlight after blocking S. Korean President’s arrest
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Police officers stand guard in front of the impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's official residence.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SEOUL - The man central to blocking investigators from arresting South Korea’s impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol has come under the spotlight himself in the political crisis sparked by Mr Yoon’s brief declaration of martial law
Mr Park Chong-jun, who reports directly to Mr Yoon, was instrumental in rebuffing the investigators’ attempt on Jan 3 to serve an arrest warrant on Mr Yoon, resulting in a six-hour stand-off at the President’s official residence
Presidential guards and military troops prevented the authorities from arresting Mr Yoon for alleged insurrection on the warrant, which is valid until Jan 6.
The anti-graft body that is leading the investigation with the police said on Jan 3 that it was working out its next steps.
Mr Yoon’s Dec 3 declaration of martial law stunned South Korea and led to his impeachment and suspension from duties
His political fate is in the hands of the Constitutional Court.
His legal fate is being fought over by an array of law enforcement agencies against Mr Yoon’s forces – with Mr Park in a pivotal position.
Appointed by Mr Yoon in September, Mr Park has already played a role in preventing investigators from executing 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,” Mr Park said in a message on the service’s website, adding that its mission to protect the president “at every moment” must leave no loopholes.
He employed that rationale to rebuff Jan 3’s efforts to arrest Mr Yoon, on the grounds that investigators were exceeding the bounds of security laws and injuring some security service staff.
Critics worry that it is Mr Park’s service that is being excessive.
“The Presidential Security Service is a dangerous institution whose power can go out of control,” said professor of police administrative law Han Seung-whoon from Dongshin University.
“Since only the president has the authority to control it, the security service can abuse the power and turn into the president’s private army.”
The anti-graft body, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), said it had to call off Jan 3’s arrest attempt because of fears over the safety of its personnel.
Mr Yoon’s security service and troops under its control outnumbered the arresting officials, the CIO said.
At one point, it said, Mr Yoon’s people linked up in a human chain of about 200 to block access to the President and his official residence, while buses and military vehicles were also used as blockades.
On Jan 3, the police said they would investigate Mr Park for potential obstruction of justice, asking him to appear for questioning.
He declined for the moment, saying he could not be away from work even for a moment at this critical time.
Mr Park and his deputy were in talks to provide a response to the investigators at a future date, the security service said.
The police on Jan 4 asked for him to appear on Jan 7.
Mr Yoon’s lawyers contend that the CIO lacks the authority to investigate insurrection, rendering the arrest warrant illegal.
A court approved the warrant, the first against a sitting president, on Dec 31 after Mr Yoon ignored repeated summonses for questioning.
Controversial history
Critics of the Presidential Security Service call it a relic from the days of South Korea’s strongman leaders, who ruled until the late 1980s.
It was placed under the president’s direct control during the days of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s, and headed by loyal aides who wielded immense power.
After the 2016 impeachment of then President Park Geun-hye, lawmakers, calling the service the “brainchild of (an) authoritarian military regime”, proposed changes to transfer it to a police agency.
They also sought to downgrade the rank of its chief, but the reform efforts appear to have stalled.
Mr Park’s predecessor in the Presidential Security Service is Kim Yong-hyun, a close ally of Mr Yoon, who left the role in September when he was appointed defence minister.
Kim has since resigned from the latter post and was indicted on insurrection charges
The martial law declaration, which Mr Yoon rescinded six hours later when the opposition-controlled Parliament defied him, outlawed political activity and sought to control the media.
Mr Park, a former senior police official who failed in two bids for Parliament in 2012 and 2016, graduated at the top of his class at the Korea National Police University, rising to become deputy chief of the national police agency in 2011.
In 2012, he helped the conservative Park Geun-hye in her successful presidential bid, then became deputy chief of her presidential security until 2015.
At the time of his appointment to head the Presidential Security Service, Mr Yoon’s chief of staff said he would help build “an advanced security system”.
The opposition has demanded Mr Park’s arrest for blocking Mr Yoon’s arrest and urged an investigation into his alleged role in the martial law declaration.
Previously questioned as a witness in the investigation of that declaration, he denied allegations, according to media reports. REUTERS
