Security perimeter around Moon's home extended to 300 meters

Politics

Published: 21 Aug. 2022, 17:36 Updated: 21 Aug. 2022, 19:14

Security perimeter around Moon's home extended to 300 meters

A guard on Sunday afternoon allows a vehicle to pass the security perimeter surrounding Pyeongsan Village in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang, where former President Moon Jae-in's retirement home is located. [YONHAP]

The presidential office said Sunday it would expand the security cordon around former President Moon Jae-in's retirement home in response to escalating threats to his safety.

The extension of the perimeter around Moon’s house in Pyeongsan Village in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang will oblige protesters rallying outside the former president’s residence to move 300 meters (328 yards) from the fence of the house beginning Sunday midnight.

The presidential office said the new distance requirement was judged necessary to strengthen protection of the former president in light of various incidents during raucous rallies and protests directed against Moon, his wife and staff.

According to a high-ranking presidential official who spoke on condition of anonymity to Yonhap, the decision to expand the security zone came after a Friday meeting between President Yoon Suk-yeol and National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo.

The new safety measure comes five days after a conservative activist, who had been staging a one-man protest in front of Moon's home since Moon left office on May 10, threatened an aide to Moon and others with a box cutter knife on Tuesday. The man was arrested on Thursday.

Earlier, the presidential office said President Yoon Suk-yeol had expressed concern about the protests targeting his predecessor.

"The protests mixed with profanities and insults have brought inconvenience to the former president and his wife," a presidential official told the JoongAng Ilbo.

"President Yoon is very concerned about this,” the office said in June.

After Moon's five-year term ended on May 9, he and former first lady Kim Jung-sook moved into a newly-constructed home in the rural village, but conservative protesters almost immediately set up loudspeakers in front of the house, causing major disturbances to the neighborhood. Some are broadcasting the protests on YouTube.

Some rallies organized by civic groups have drawn crowds and resulted in minor scuffles with the police. Others blasted profanities nonstop over the loudspeakers. Some even made death threats to Moon and his family.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]