On the 17th, police applied for a fourth arrest warrant for Kim Seong-hoon, Vice Administrator of the Presidential Security Service, on charges of obstruction of special public duty.
The police special investigation team noted that they applied for an arrest warrant with the Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office for Kim, who is accused of actively obstructing the execution of an arrest warrant against President Yoon Suk-yeol. They also applied for a third arrest warrant for Lee Kwang-woo, Chief of the Security Headquarters, who is facing the same charges.
These individuals are known to be hardliners who argued that physical force should be employed to prevent the execution of the arrest warrant against President Yoon when the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials and the police attempted to execute it in January. In this process, they faced charges of obstructing special public duty as well as abuse of power for taking disciplinary measures against Security Service staff who did not follow orders to prevent arrests.
The police applied for arrest warrants three times for Vice Administrator Kim and two times for Chief Lee, but the prosecution repeatedly rejected the applications, citing the need for further investigation. The logic was that there could be disputes over the intent of both individuals.
The police also reported that Vice Administrator Kim is attempting to destroy evidence by ordering the deletion of records related to a confidential phone within the Security Service and not permitting a search of the confidential phone server. Meanwhile, the prosecution pointed out that matters concerning the confidential phone server are evidence related to a separate crime of treason, not an obstruction of arrest.
In response, the police applied for a review of the arrest warrant to the Seoul High Prosecutors’ Office’s warrant review committee on the 13th of last month after the warrant application was rejected. The warrant review committee decided on the 6th that the warrant request was valid. This application for the arrest warrant came 11 days after the police received the committee's decision.
However, the decision by the warrant review committee is not binding, so there is a possibility that the prosecution will reject the application again. Even if the prosecution accepts the application, there is also a possibility that the court could reject it. The police stated during a briefing that they meticulously prepared the arrest warrant, considering the likelihood of it being rejected by the prosecution or the court.
Meanwhile, following President Yoon's release on the 8th, Kim, who is acting as Minister of the Security Service, is likely to argue in court for the necessity of conducting an investigation without detention, citing the need for protection of the incumbent president. It is expected that the Western District Prosecutors’ Office will soon decide whether to request an arrest warrant from the court.