South Korea’s Presidential Security Service (P.S.S.) has thwarted an attempt to detain President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges, sparking a major political standoff. The agency, created in 1963 under the former dictator Park Chung-hee, is now at the heart of South Korea’s biggest crisis in decades.
The P.S.S. blocked the first effort to serve a warrant last Friday, with its staff outnumbering criminal investigators and police officers by two-to-one. The standoff lasted five-and-a-half hours before investigators abandoned efforts to detain Mr. Yoon.
The security service is protected by hundreds of trained bodyguards and anti-terrorist specialists, backed by detachments from the police and military. Its loyalty to President Yoon has raised concerns among South Koreans, who want him ousted and arrested.
Under Mr. Yoon’s leadership, the P.S.S. has become increasingly associated with authoritarian practices, with agents dragging protesters during public events. The agency has warned that it will defend its president at all costs, leading to fears of a clash if investigators try again.
The investigation into Mr. Yoon is complex, involving both political and criminal charges. The Constitutional Court will begin hearings next week to decide on the president’s fate, while prosecutors seek to question him on insurrection charges.
Opposition lawmakers are pushing for reforms, including disbanding the P.S.S. and replacing it with a security detail from the police. They see the agency as a relic of South Korea’s authoritarian past, which they believe has acted above the law and undermined democracy.
The standoff between the P.S.S. and investigators is likely to continue, with tensions escalating if neither side backs down.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/08/world/asia/south-korea-yoon-bodyguards.html