SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law case, officials said, as police were trying to search President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office Wednesday in their intensifying investigation.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party also plans to submit a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 declaration that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades. Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a floor vote.
Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea’s state media for the first time reported about the South Korean turmoil, but the country hasn’t yet showed any suspicious activities.
Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday that Kim tried to kill himself the previous night at a detention center in Seoul. He said that Kim’s suicide attempt failed after center officials stopped him and that he’s in stable condition now.
At the same parliamentary committee meeting, Justice Minister Park Sung Jae confirmed Kim’s failed suicide attempt.
Kim was arrested early Wednesday after a Seoul court approved a warrant for him on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. Kim became the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree.
Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec. 4.
Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing significant anxiety” to the public. He said all responsibility for the martial law imposition rests with him and pleaded for leniency for soldiers deployed to enforce it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to determine whether to indict Kim.
Later Wednesday, National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, head of the metropolitan police agency of the capital, Seoul, were detained over the martial law, police said. They were accused of deploying police forces to the National Assembly to block lawmakers’ voting, together with troops.
The country’s main law enforcement institutions are focusing on finding whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in imposing martial law committed the crime of rebellion. A conviction on the charge of rebellion carries a maximum death sentence.
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office on Wednesday to look for any evidence related to the martial law introduction. It wasn’t immediately clear if they began searches.
Some observers earlier said that the presidential security service won’t likely permit searches of Yoon’s office,