Seoul, Feb 18 (IANS): South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday rejected for the third time a police request to arrest the acting chief of the Presidential Security Service (PSS) over his alleged attempt to block South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's detention.
The Seoul Western District Prosecutors Office dismissed the request to file for an arrest warrant for acting PSS chief Kim Seong-hoon, saying the listed charges are disputable and the possibility he will destroy evidence or flee is low, given he has voluntarily appeared before investigators for questioning, according to legal sources.
A police request to arrest Lee Kwang-woo, head of the PSS bodyguard division, was also rejected for the second time for similar reasons.
The arrests were sought on charges of obstructing official duties and abuse of power after the PSS successfully stopped investigators from detaining Yoon in January over his failed martial law bid the previous month, Yonhap news agency reported.
Earlier in the day, supporters of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol had been holding a series of protest rallies in front of an alleged residence of the Constitutional Court's Acting Chief Justice, Moon Hyung-bae, for several days, in an apparent attempt to influence the court's ongoing trials concerning Yoon's impeachment.
On Tuesday morning, about 30 supporters of the impeached President gathered outside an apartment complex in the central Seoul district of Jongno, shouting slogans denouncing Moon and calling for his resignation and the nullification of Yoon's impeachment.
Some of the protesters waved picket signs that read, "Porn judge Moon Hyung-bae," amid allegations that he had turned a blind eye to the sharing of pornography in an Internet café for his high school alumni. Police were reportedly investigating the allegations.
Yoon's supporters, as well as conservative lawmakers, had accused Moon of being close to Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung and affiliated with a left-leaning association of judges, suggesting he was moving to make a judgment unfavorable to the impeached President.
Meanwhile, the National Assembly had voted to impeach Yoon after his shocking, though brief, imposition of martial law on December 3. He had been indicted on charges of leading an insurrection and had been arrested.
Yoon was also alleged to have sent military troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting down the martial law declaration and to have planned to arrest key political figures.