Top aide of impeached South Korean president pleads for investigators to halt detention efforts

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The top aide of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol pleaded with law enforcement on Tuesday to abandon their efforts to detain him over last month’s martial law imposition, as authorities prepared a second attempt to take him into custody.

In his statement, presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk said Yoon could instead be questioned at a “third site” or at his residence and claimed that the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a “South American drug cartel.”

However, Yoon Kab-keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Chung issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plans to make the president available for questioning by investigators.

Yoon Suk Yeol has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining Yoon after a nearly six-hour standoff on Jan. 3.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police pledged more forceful measures to detain Yoon while they jointly investigate whether Yoon’s brief martial law declaration on Dec. 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. The National Police Agency has convened multiple meetings of field commanders in Seoul and nearby Gyeonggi province in recent days to plan the detainment efforts and the size of those forces fueled speculation that more than a thousand officers could be deployed in a possible multiday operation. The agency and police have openly warned that presidential bodyguards obstructing the execution of the warrant could be arrested on site.

The anti-corruption agency and police haven’t confirmed when they would return to the presidential