South Korea: Acting President accepts presidential security chief’s resignation

Seoul, Jan 10 (SocialNews.XYZ) South Korea's Acting President Choi Sang-mok accepted the resignation of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) chief on Friday, according to Choi's office, amid growing conflicts over arresting President Yoon Suk-yeol, who remains inside his fortified residence.

Park Chong-jun, head of thePSS, submitted his resignation shortly before appearing for police questioning earlier in the day over allegations that he obstructed the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) from executing a court-issued warrant to arrest Yoon last week.

"Park has submitted his resignation, and it has been accepted," the finance ministry said in a statement.

Park, who has been booked on allegations of obstructing official duties, complied with the police's third request for questioning, after defying two previous requests.

The CIO and police are reportedly preparing for a second attempt to execute the arrest warrant to bring in Yoon, who is facing allegations of insurrection over his failed attempt to impose martial law in December.

Yoon has refused to cooperate with the CIO's summons or warrant execution, arguing that the agency is not authorised to investigate charges of insurrection.

Meanwhile, the CIO and police are considering whether to detain PSS staff members if they attempt to obstruct the second arrest attempt, Yonhap news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, the head of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) said that any clashes or bloodshed should not have taken place when investigators attempted to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his botched martial law bid.

Park Chong-jun, chief of the PSS, made the remarks as he appeared before police for questioning over allegations that he had ordered presidential security officials to block the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO), supported by police, from executing a warrant to detain Yoon.

"I believed many people must have been deeply concerned about the situation, whether government agencies were clashing and confronting each other," Park said. "There should have been no physical clashes and bloodshed under any circumstances."

Source: IANS