South Korea: Police raid official residence, office of arrested ex-defence minister

Seoul, Dec 8 (SocialNews.XYZ) Police raided the official residence and office of former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun on Sunday, officials said, amid a widening probe over treason charges in connection with President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived declaration of martial law last week.

An investigation team at the police has also obtained a court warrant, specifying allegations of treason, as well as mutiny under military criminal law, to secure Kim's call records, officials said.

The move followed Kim's arrest by a prosecution-led special investigation headquarters earlier in the day. The team seized Kim's mobile phone and sent him to a detention centre in Seoul, Yonhap news agency reported.

From Sunday's raid, the police confiscated a cell phone believed to have been used by Kim, along with some 17 other digital devices.

Police will run a forensic analysis on the phone to find out whether it was the one Kim had used at the time of the martial law imposition.

Kim has apparently discarded his cell phone following the martial law chaos.

As part of efforts to expand its investigation into the botched martial law declaration, police said it will additionally dispatch 30 officers to run a 150-member special investigation team.

Meanwhile, police said they are not considering launching a joint investigation into the martial law declaration with the prosecution.

The response came after Park Se-hyun, who is leading a special investigation headquarters into the case, told a press briefing that the prosecution is willing to work with police upon their request for a joint probe.

Source: IANS