It's Hyunjoo Jin
SEOUL (Reuters) – The man at the center of preventing investigators from arresting convicted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has come under fire in a political crisis sparked by Yoon's brief declaration of martial law last month.
Park Chong-jun, who reports directly to Yoon, was instrumental in thwarting efforts by investigators on Friday to serve an arrest warrant on Yoon, prompting a six-hour standoff at Yoon's official residence.
Presidential guards and military forces prevented authorities from arresting Yoon on a warrant charge of rebellion, which was effective on Monday. The anti-corruption organization that is leading the investigation and the police said on Friday that it was preparing the next steps.
Yoon's December 3 declaration of martial law shocked South Korea and resulted in his impeachment and suspension on December 14. The president's fate is in the hands of the Constitutional Court.
His legal fate is fought by a series of law enforcement agencies against Yoon's forces – and Park in a very important role.
Appointed by Yoon in September, Park had already played a role in preventing investigators from executing search warrants at presidential offices and residences, citing national security.
“The Presidential Security Service exists only for the absolute protection of the security mission,” Park said in a message on the service's website, adding that his mission to protect the president “at every moment” should leave no boundaries.
He used that reason to oppose Friday's efforts to arrest Yoon, on the grounds that investigators exceeded the limits of security laws and harmed other security service personnel.
'OUT OF CONTROL'
Critics worry that the Park Service is overreaching.
“The presidential security service is a dangerous institution whose powers can get out of control,” said Han Seung-whoon, a law professor of police management at Dongshin University.
“Since only the president has the power to control it, the defense forces can abuse the power and turn into the president's private army.”
The anti-corruption body, the Chief Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), said it was forced to call off Friday's raid due to fears for the safety of its staff.
Yoon's security service and the forces under its command were more than mere officers, the CIO said. At one point, it was said, Yoon's people were joined in a human chain of about 200 to block access to Yoon and his legal stay, while buses and military vehicles were used as roadblocks.
On Friday, the police said they would investigate Park for obstruction of justice, asking him to appear for questioning. He is reluctant at the moment, saying that he cannot be away from work even for a moment in this difficult time.
Park and his deputy were in talks to give an answer to investigators at a later date, the security service said.
The police on Saturday asked him to appear on Tuesday.
Yoon's lawyers argued that the CIO did not have the authority to investigate the riots, issuing an illegal arrest warrant.
The court approved the warrant, the first against a sitting president, on Tuesday after Yoon ignored repeated subpoenas for questioning.
A COMPLEX HISTORY
Critics of the presidential security service call it a holdover from the days of South Korea's strongman leadership, which ruled until the late 1980s.
It was placed under the direct control of the president during the days of military rule in the 1970s and 1980s, and led by trusted aides who wielded considerable power.
After the impeachment in 2016 of then-President Park Geun-hye, lawmakers, calling the service “the brainchild of an authorized military administration”, proposed a change to transfer it to a police agency.
They also want to debase its master, but reform efforts seem to have stalled.
Park's predecessor in the presidential security service is Kim Yong-hyun, a close associate of Yoon, who left the role in September when he was named defense minister.
Kim resigned from the latter position and was indicted on charges of treason, accused of a leading role in planning and organizing the martial law trial.
The announcement, which Yoon withdrew six hours later when the opposition-controlled parliament rejected him, blocked political activity and attempted to control the media.
Park, a former top police officer who failed in two parliamentary bids in 2012 and 2016, graduated at the top of his class at the Korea National Police University, rising to deputy chief of the national police agency in 2011.
In 2012 he helped incumbent Park Geun-hye in her successful presidential bid, then became deputy presidential security chief until 2015.
At the time of Park Chong-jun's appointment to head the presidential security service, Yoon's boss said he would help build a “super security system”.
The opposition called for his arrest for obstructing Yoon's arrest and called for an investigation into his role in the declaration of martial law.
Previously questioned as a witness in the investigation into the announcement, he denied the allegations, according to media reports.