South Korea police raid presidential office and security compound

SEOUL, South Korea: South Korean police raided Wednesday the office of former president Yoon Suk Yeol and his security detail, as part of a spiralling criminal probe into the impeached leader.

Yoon declared martial law in December, sending armed soldiers to parliament before reversing course. He was quickly impeached by lawmakers but resisted arrest for weeks in a criminal probe.

After a lengthy standoff, in which his security detail played a key role, he became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in January. He was later released on procedural grounds.

Police said Wednesday they had “initiated the execution of a search and seizure warrant at the presidential office and the presidential residence complex.”

Police seized encrypted phone servers and raided the office of Yoon’s presidential security detail, plus his chief of security’s house, in what they said was part of a probe into “alleged obstruction of an arrest warrant execution”.

Yoon spent weeks holed up in his compound in January, protected by members of the Presidential Security Service who had remained loyal to him.

His guards had installed barbed wire and barricades at the residence, forcing hundreds of police officers and investigators to use ladders and scale perimeter walls to reach the main building.

At the time, he was booked on charges of obstruction, with police saying this week that “in principle” an investigation would be necessary.

Police also seized CCTV footage from the presidential office, as part of a separate probe into former interior minister Lee Sang-min, they said.

Yoon was in court Monday for the first official day of his criminal trial on insurrection charges.

Yoon denied that he committed insurrection.

His next hearing is scheduled for April 21, with experts saying the trial is likely to go on for months.