The police stated on the 29th that it is "not true" in relation to the claim made by former President Yoon Suk-yeol's side that Park Chang-hwan, the head of the Serious Crimes Investigation Division of the Korean National Police Agency, who was in charge of the face-to-face investigation, is a party involved in illegal arrest.
The Korean National Police Agency clarified that the arrest warrant issued on Jan. 7 is unrelated to Park Chang-hwan, stating, "The warrant was issued by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials regarding former President Yoon's charges of insurrection and was executed by a CIO prosecutor."
Previously, the former president's legal team claimed that the arrest warrant issued on Jan. 7 was executed on Jan. 15 and that Park Chang-hwan was a party who illegally entered the residence at the time of execution. The police's announcement contradicts this claim.
The Korean National Police Agency stated regarding Park Chang-hwan's site visit on Jan. 15, "The special investigation team of the National Investigation Headquarters of the Korean National Police Agency went to execute the arrest warrants issued on Jan. 13-14 for Kim Sung-hun, former Vice Administrator of the Presidential Security Service, and Lee Kwang-woo, former head of the Presidential Security Service, on charges of obstructing special public duties." It added, "Park Chang-hwan is unrelated to the arrest warrant issued on Jan. 7 for former President Yoon."
The police noted that on Jan. 15, they presented the arrest warrants for Kim, the former Vice Administrator, and Lee, the former Deputy Minister, directly to lawyer Song Jin-ho and that the warrants were valid without any controversies regarding the investigative authority or the jurisdiction court.
Former President Yoon refused to proceed with the investigation after receiving a face-to-face inquiry from Park Chang-hwan, the special prosecutor for insurrection, for one hour while demanding a change of the investigator. He justified his refusal by stating, "Park is already accused of leading the illegal arrest" and that "the perpetrator is investigating the victim." In response, the Korean National Police Agency also stated the previous day that "the claim from the legal team of former President Yoon Suk-yeol that Park Chang-hwan is the person who led the illegal arrest is not true."