Home > National > Politics

Yoon's office refuses to cooperate with raid, blocks entry

Published: 11 Dec. 2024, 16:00 Updated: 11 Dec. 2024, 21:04

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

Investigators from the National Office of Investigation’s (NOI) emergency martial law special investigation unit wait outside the presidential office compound in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Wednesday. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

A team of detectives from the National Office of Investigation (NOI) that is charged with investigating President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law attempted to raid the presidential office on Wednesday but failed to enter the compound due to resistance from the office.

The attempted raid on the presidential office and its subsequent refusal to cooperate marks a first since the 2017 attempt by a special prosecutors’ team to raid the Blue House to investigate then-president Park Geun-hye.

The NOI special unit, which consists of 60 personnel, attempted to enter the presidential office in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Wednesday at 11:36 a.m. but found itself stuck outside the gates of the compound after the presidential office refused to cooperate with their investigation.

Articles 110 and 111 of the Criminal Act prohibit raids without the consent of the person in charge of a location that deals with military or official secrets.

After an eight-hour deadlock, police left the gates of the presidential office Wednesday evening after obtaining a limited amount of data through other means including voluntary submission.

Police previously filed a search warrant that named President Yoon Suk Yeol as a suspect in an insurrection plot for issuing a martial law decree last week.

The targets of the raid include the presidential office, the secretariat, the Cabinet meeting room, and the presidential security service. Yoon is believed to be staying at the official residence, but the presidential residence was not included in the list of targets as of Wednesday.

Police also utilized equipment to secure the entry and exit records of the members who attended the Cabinet meeting after martial law was declared on Dec. 3.

“The Cabinet minutes and the Cabinet member arrangement map are included in the raid target,” said a police official.

As police began the raid, the presidential security service staff stood in front of the presidential office gates holding barricades and controlling the area.

Security personnel were increased to more than usual at the three main entrances to the presidential office and the nearby roads, with personnel deployed in pairs of two to six people, and barricades installed to strengthen security in the surrounding area.

The presidential office stated late Wednesday that it responded to the attempted raid based on relevant laws and the practices of previous administrations in similar situations.

An official from the presidential office claimed that the office was not refusing to cooperate with the raid.

The Democratic Party (DP) criticized the presidential office's refusal to cooperate with the raid on the same day.

"The presidential security service's obstruction of the raid on the presidential office is not only tantamount to protecting the leader of an insurrection but also constitutes participation in treason," said Jo Seoung-lae, the DP's chief spokesperson, in a press briefing. "What the presidential office and the presidential security service are protecting right now is not the head of state but the leader of an insurrection."

Jo further demanded that presidential security stop blocking the entry of investigators into the presidential office. "If obstruction continues, we will consider the presidential office and the presidential security service to be co-participants in treason, and we will indict not only the person giving the orders but also the personnel executing them."

The chief of the state anti-corruption watchdog said earlier Wednesday that the agency will seek to take Yoon into custody if the conditions for his arrest are fulfilled.

“If the situation allows, we will attempt to make an emergency arrest or an arrest based on a court warrant,” said Oh Dong-woon, the chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), in a meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly.

A joint investigative unit comprising the CIO, the National Office of Investigation of the National Police Agency and the Defense Ministry was launched Wednesday afternoon.

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]