President’s security chief resigns, calls for avoiding ‘bloodshed’

The head of deposed South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s security service, Park Chong-jun, whose team prevented his arrest by investigators a week ago, resigned on Friday. Park Chong-jun tendered his resignation “while he was taking part in a police interrogation”a PSS official told AFP. This was then accepted by interim President Choi Sang-mok, the latter’s office told journalists.

Before his resignation, the head of the President’s Security Service had also called for preventing any “bloodshed” in the event of another attempt to arrest the leader for his short-lived attempt to impose martial law. “Under no circumstances should there be physical clashes or bloodshed”Presidential Security Service (PSS) head Park Chong-jun told reporters.

Yoon’s bodyguards formed a human chain to block access to prosecutors from the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO) and police officers who came to seize Yoon at his residence in Seoul, where he is holed up. for weeks.

Trial Tuesday

After six hours of tense face-to-face confrontation, the IOC retreated, saying he feared for the safety of his staff. The deposed president refuses to be questioned about his failed attempt to impose martial law on December 3, which plunged South Korea into a serious political crisis and put him under investigation for “rebellion”a crime punishable by death.

Since December 31, hundreds of supporters of the ousted president have demonstrated day and night near his residence, braving freezing temperatures. Yoon’s lawyers argue that the arrest warrant is “invalid and illegal” and contest the competence of the IOC to investigate this matter.

The Court has set the start of the impeachment trial for this Tuesday, which will take place even if the main person concerned does not appear. The court has 180 days from December 14, when it received the case, to decide whether to permanently dismiss Yoon or reinstate him as president.