By Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) – The man central to preventing investigators from arresting impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has himself come into the spotlight in the political crisis sparked by Yoon’s brief declaration of a state of emergency last month.
Park Chong-jun, who reports directly to Yoon, was instrumental in rebuffing an attempt by investigators on Friday to serve Yoon with an arrest warrant, resulting in a six-hour standoff at Yoon’s official residence.
Presidential guards and military troops prevented authorities from arresting Yoon for alleged sedition under a warrant valid until Monday. The anti-corruption body, which is conducting the investigation together with the police, said on Friday that it was working on the next steps.
Yoon’s declaration of martial law on December 3 stunned South Korea and led to his impeachment and suspension from office on December 14. The President’s political fate is in the hands of the Constitutional Court.
His legal fate is being fought by a series of law enforcement agencies against Yoon’s forces – with Park in a key position.
Appointed by Yoon in September, Park has already played a role in preventing investigators from executing search warrants for presidential offices and residences, citing national security concerns.
“The Presidential Security Service exists solely for the absolute safety of the security target,” Park said in a message on the service’s website, adding that its mission to protect the president “at all times” must leave no loopholes.
He used that rationale to reject attempts to arrest Yoon on Friday, on the grounds that investigators had overstepped the bounds of security laws and injured some security personnel.
‘OUT OF CONTROL’
Critics worry that Park’s service is excessive.
“The Presidential Security Service is a dangerous institution whose power can get out of hand,” said Han Seung-whoon, a professor of police administrative law at 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-corruption body, the Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), said it had to drop an arrest attempt on Friday because of fears for the safety of its staff.
Yoon’s security service and the troops under its control outnumbered the arresting officials, the CIO said. At one point, it said, Yoon’s men formed a human chain of about 200 people to block access to Yoon and his official residence, while buses and military vehicles were also used as a blockade.
Police said Friday they would investigate Park for potential obstruction of justice, asking him to appear for questioning. He immediately refused, saying that at this critical time he could not be removed from work even for a moment.
Park and his deputy were in talks to give answers to investigators in the future, the security service said.
On Saturday, the police asked him to appear on Tuesday.
Yoon’s lawyers argue that the CIO has no authority to investigate the rebellion, making the arrest warrant illegal.
The court granted the order, the first against a sitting president, on Tuesday after Yoon ignored repeated calls for questioning.
CONTROVERSIAL HISTORY
Critics of the presidential security service call it a relic from the days of South Korea’s powerful leaders, who 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 headed by loyal aides who wielded enormous power.
After the impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye in 2016, lawmakers, calling the service “the brainchild of an authoritarian military regime,” proposed changes to turn it into a police agency.
They also sought to downgrade the chief, 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 left the role in September when he was named defense minister.
Kim has since resigned from his latest post and has been indicted on sedition charges, accused of a key role in recommending and preparing the attempt to impose martial law.
The declaration, which Yoon rescinded six hours later when opposed by the opposition-controlled parliament, banned political activity and sought to control the media.
Park, a former senior police official who failed in two bids for parliament in 2012 and 2016, graduated top of his class from the Korea National Police University and became deputy chief of the national police agency in 2011.
In 2012, he helped the conservative Park Geun-hye in her successful presidential bid, and then became her deputy head of presidential security until 2015.
At the time of Park Chong-jun’s appointment as head of the presidential security service, Yoon’s chief of staff said he would help build an “advanced security system.”
The opposition demanded his arrest for blocking Yoon’s arrest and called for an investigation into his alleged role in the declaration of martial law.
Previously questioned as a witness in the investigation of that declaration, he denied the accusations, the media reports.
