Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, arrives for work at the CIO headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. (Yonhap)
Oh Dong-woon, chief of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, arrives for work at the CIO headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. (Yonhap)

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials announced Monday that it sent the official documents to both the Presidential Security Service and the Ministry of National Defense on Sunday, officially requesting their cooperation in enforcing the warrant to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol.

According to the CIO, it sent the documents to a total of six PSS guards, including the head of the Bodyguard Division, Lee Kwang-woo, warning them of the legal consequences that PSS employees will face if they interfere with the execution of the arrest warrant.

“The individuals can be punished for obstructing official duties and abuse of authority. They will be responsible for the compensating for damages incurred while carrying out illegal acts and face legal penalities according to the State Public Officials Act and Public Officials Pension Act, including the loss of one's status as a public official, restrictions on reappointment and restrictions on receiving the pension for public officials,” the CIO said.

The CIO asked the PSS not to deploy other units -- such as Defense Ministry conscripts who are not under the PSS’ authority -- to protect the presidential residence, or request them to provide additional supplies or equipment.

The state anti-corruption agency also claimed that PSS guards would not be accused of dereliction of duty for not blocking investigators from arresting Yoon or for complying with an illegal order, emphasizing that there will be no harm in disobeying an illegal order.

The CIO also informed the Defense Ministry about the legal consequences that soldiers dispatched to the PSS -- including conscripts in the 55th Security Brigade and 33rd Military Police Brigade -- would face for blocking the execution of a warrant to arrest the impeached president. It asked the Defense Ministry to take preemptive actions to prevent its soldiers from facing such penalties.

Police investigations have been opened into five of the president's top bodyguards: Park Jong-jun, former chief of the PSS; deputy chief of the PSS Kim Seong-hoon; Lee Jin-ha, head of the PSS’ Security and Safety Division; Lee Kwang-woo, head of the Bodyguard Division; and head of the Family Security Team Kim Shin. The CIO's official documents are expected to increase pressure on the PSS to allow for Yoon's arrest.

Though the CIO and police previously attempted to detain the suspended president on Jan. 3, they withdrew from the presidential residence compound in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, after approximately 200 armed PSS and military personnel combined formed a human barricade, blocking them for reaching Yoon inside.

The police, which is working together with the CIO and the Ministry of Defense in a joint probe of Yoon's Dec. 3 botched imposition of martial law, considers this week to be the appropriate time to execute the warrant to arrest him, according to Yonhap News Agency.

The police believe a split within the elite bodyguards emerged after former PSS chief Park, who submitted his resignation before finally complying with the police investigation, and Lee, the Security and Safety Division head, appeared for questioning on Saturday.

Park and Lee decided to appear for questioning after both defying two summonses. But three other PSS officials refused to comply with the police’s request as of Monday afternoon.

Though the summonses and questioning schedules of top presidential bodyguards will not be the decisive factors affecting when the warrant is executed, the state anti-corruption agency is reviewing different possibilities and strategies related to changes in the PSS' chain of command, according to the CIO official.

Meanwhile, Yoon’s legal team asked police to wear their public official ID cards and remove any masks when they execute what it alleges is an “invalid” warrant.

Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s legal representatives, said that the National Human Rights Commission of Korea recommends that police verify their identification while performing their duties, in an official statement on Monday.

“This is a necessary measure to prevent any insurgent breaking into the country’s confidential facility after being disguised as a police officer,” the lawyer said.


sj_lee@heraldcorp.com