Presidential Security Service issues official apology for obstructing arrest of ex-President Yoon
Presidential chief of staff Kang Hoon-sik, left in front of the podium, and other presidential officials take an oath during a parliamentary audit of the presidential office by the parliamentary steering committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap
The Presidential Security Service (PSS) on Thursday issued an official apology for obstructing investigators' attempt earlier this year to detain then President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid.
In January, investigators had planned to detain Yoon after he was impeached over his botched attempt to impose martial law and question him on insurrection charges, but they struggled to execute a warrant for Yoon's arrest as hundreds of PSS agents blocked the investigators.
Kang Byung-in, acting chief of the PSS planning and management, made the apology during a parliamentary audit of the National Assembly's Steering Committee, saying that blocking Yoon's detention at that time was "inappropriate."
Kang told lawmakers that the PSS is "extremely sorry" about the situation surrounding the Dec. 3 martial law bid by Yoon and "inappropriate behaviors in the process of executing the warrant."
Kang's apology marked the agency's first official acknowledgment of its role in blocking the execution of an arrest warrant against the jailed former president.
Kang vowed that the PSS will be "reborn" into an organization trusted by the public by strictly following legal procedures and practicing "humble" security.