South Korea: Acting President Accepts Resignation of Presidential Security Chief

Click to start listening
South Korea: Acting President Accepts Resignation of Presidential Security Chief

Seoul, Jan 10 (NationPress) Choi Sang-mok, the Acting President of South Korea, has accepted the resignation of the head of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) on Friday, as reported by Choi's office. This decision comes amid increasing tension surrounding the arrest of President Yoon Suk-yeol, who remains inside his fortified residence.

Park Chong-jun, the PSS chief, submitted his resignation shortly before attending police questioning regarding allegations that he obstructed the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) from enforcing a court-issued arrest warrant for Yoon last week.

According to a statement from the finance ministry, "Park has submitted his resignation, and it has been accepted."

Park, who is facing charges for obstructing official duties, complied with the police's third request for questioning after ignoring two previous ones.

The CIO and police are reportedly preparing to make a second attempt to execute the arrest warrant for Yoon, who faces allegations of insurrection related to his unsuccessful attempt to declare martial law in December.

Yoon has refused to cooperate with the CIO's summons or the execution of the warrant, claiming that the agency lacks the authority to investigate insurrection charges.

Additionally, the CIO and police are contemplating whether to detain PSS personnel if they obstruct the upcoming arrest attempt, as reported by Yonhap news agency.

Earlier, the head of the PSS stated that there should have been no clashes or bloodshed when investigators sought to detain impeached President Yoon Suk-yeol for his failed martial law attempt.

Park Chong-jun made these remarks while undergoing police questioning regarding allegations that he ordered security officials to prevent the CIO, supported by police, from executing the arrest warrant for Yoon.

"I believe many people must have been deeply concerned about the situation, wondering whether government agencies were clashing with one another," Park stated. "There should have been no physical confrontations or bloodshed under any circumstances."