South Korean Police Question Presidential Security Chief as Rift over Detaining President Deepens

South Korean police questioned the chief of the presidential security service on Friday as the two agencies clashed over attempts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police are planning a second attempt to bring Yoon into custody as they jointly investigate whether his brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. The presidential security service blocked an earlier attempt to detain Yoon at his official residence, which he has not left for weeks.
Park Jong-joon, the presidential security chief, says that his duty is to protect the president and warned of “bloodshed,” as critics said that his agency is becoming Yoon’s private army.
Park ignored two summonses before appearing for questioning on Friday over allegations of obstructing justice, a week after his forces repelled dozens of anti-corruption and police investigators from Yoon’s official residence.
The anti-corruption office and police have vowed to make a second, more forceful effort to detain Yoon, warning that members of the presidential security staff could be arrested if they get in the way.
The embattled president remains holed up at his official residence in Seoul, where the presidential security service has fortified the grounds with barbed wire and rows of vehicles blocking the roads.
Yoon made a short-lived declaration of martial law and deployed troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, which lasted only hours before lawmakers managed to get through the blockade and voted to lift the measure.
His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 and accused him of rebellion. His fate now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has begun deliberating on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reject the charges and reinstate him.
There’s also speculation that police may attempt to detain Park and other leaders of the presidential security service before trying again to execute the detainment warrant against Yoon, which was renewed by a Seoul court on Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters upon arriving for police questioning, Park again criticized the efforts to detain Yoon, saying that the investigation should proceed in a manner “appropriate for the status of an incumbent president” and the “dignity of the nation.”
“Many citizens are surely deeply concerned about the possible conflict and confrontation between government agencies,” Park said. “I came here today with the belief that under no circumstances should there be any physical clashes or bloodshed, and am hoping to prevent such incidents from occurring.”
Park said he made several calls to the country’s acting leader, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, urging him to mediate an alternative approach with law enforcement and also made similar requests to Yoon’s lawyers, but did not receive a satisfactory response.
Yoon’s lawyers accused the police of trying to undermine the leadership of the presidential security service.
“This is an abnormal move that displays a disregard for national security,” the lawyers said in a texted statement.
While the presidential security act mandates protection for Yoon, it does not authorize the service to block court-ordered detainments and some legal experts say the presidential security service’s action last week may have been illegal.
Asked in parliament about the presidential security service’s effort to block the detention, National Court Administration head Cheon Dae-yeop said Friday that “resistance without a legitimate reason can constitute a crime, such as obstruction of official duties.”
Although the president himself has wide-ranging immunity from prosecution while in office, that does not extend to allegations of rebellion or treason.
Yoon’s lawyers have questioned the legitimacy of a new detention warrant against Yoon issued by the Seoul Western District Court, arguing that the anti-corruption agency lacks legal authority to investigate rebellion charges or order police to detain suspects.
They also argue that detention and search warrants against Yoon cannot be enforced at his residence, citing a law that protects locations potentially linked to military secrets from search without the consent of the person in charge — which would be Yoon.
Yoon’s lawyers have urged the agency to either indict the president or seek a formal arrest warrant, a process that requires a court hearing. However, they have said that Yoon would only comply with an arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Court, which handles most key requests in high-profile cases.
They accuse the agency of deliberately choosing another court with an allegedly favorable judge, even though the official residence is located in the jurisdiction of the Western District Court.

Outrage over alleged safety failures at a 12-storey hotel in Türkiye has escalated into a political clash between the government and the opposition-run local authorities, after a fire killed 79 people and injured more than 50, Reuters reported.

The tragedy sparked calls for accountability and reform, and independent experts have said the Grand Kartal Hotel, at the Kartalkaya ski resort in western Türkiye, lacked basic fire safety measures.

Survivors described chaos as they navigated smoke-filled corridors in darkness. Some said there were no alarms, sprinkler systems or visible fire escapes. Some were forced to leap from windows to escape and several died that way.

Authorities detained 11 people, including the hotel's owner, manager, a deputy mayor of Bolu province, and the head of the local fire department as part of a probe. The hotel's management pledged full cooperation and President Tayyip Erdogan vowed accountability.

Bolu's opposition-run municipality and the national tourism ministry blamed each other for a lack of fire safety measures, with each arguing it was the other's responsibility.

"All these people would not have died if the deficiencies we mentioned in (the fire) inspection had been addressed," Tanju Ozcan, mayor of the nearby Bolu municipality, told broadcaster Halk TV.

Ozcan said the hotel's owners had applied for a fire safety permit in December but withdrew the application after failing to meet eight out of nine required criteria. Instead the hotel, he said, got a substitute safety report from a private auditing company, which is allowed by law.

Ozcan added that due to the ministry's jurisdiction, the municipality could not take further action.

"While the municipality was waiting for the deficiencies to be corrected, the hotel withdrew the request because they did not want to meet these costs and applied to another company. Authorization was given to a company authorized by the ministry," the mayor said.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said the property was inspected in 2021 and 2024 with no safety issues flagged. He said the fire department was responsible for regular inspections and certifications and added that no issues had been reported to date.

Ozcan said his municipality had no jurisdiction over the hotel, which lies outside city boundaries and in a designated tourism area. The municipality's last fire safety certification was dated 2007 and subsequent inspections were the ministry's responsibility, he said.

The tourism ministry said the hotel held a valid fire competence certificate.

The blaze erupted in the early hours of Tuesday at the hotel packed with 238 guests, including families on winter holiday, at the mountaintop facility.

Erol Percin, Bolu representative of the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, called for reform in safety regulations and criticised what he called vague language in current laws.

"Our legislation does not refer to these norms. It is only vaguely stated that 'guest and employee safety must be ensured,'" he said, urging stricter rules.

South Korean Police Question Presidential Security Chief as Rift over Detaining President Deepens