Police again try to raid presidential office compound over martial law probe
Investigators from the National Investigation Office of the National Police Agency leave the presidential office in central Seoul, Dec. 11, after failing to raid the office to collect evidence related to President Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law fiasco. Yonhap
Police were trying to carry out another raid on the presidential office compound Thursday as part of their martial law probe, a day after their previous attempt was thwarted, officials said,
The National Office of Investigation (NOI) handling the case sent its officials to the area in Yongsan at around 2 p.m. to obtain documents and materials related to the Dec. 3 botched martial law imposition by President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The police said Thursday's raid was for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) headquarters, located adjacent to the presidential compound, and the presidential office was not subject to the search.
The JCS building was used by the martial law command when the order was in effect.
The JCS agreed to cooperate with the investigation and the police will be receiving the materials from the JCS in the form of a voluntary submission, the police said.
Consent from the JCS is required to enter a military facility.
On Wednesday, police sought to search key offices, including the Cabinet conference room, the Presidential Security Service and the bunker room inside the JCS headquarters, located adjacent to the presidential compound.
The first search ended in hours, with the police being provided with limited documents from the security service as it refused to cooperate.
Police were also conducting a raid to seize a secure mobile phone used by former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and its connecting server, in cooperation with the defense ministry, officials said.
A secure phone is a mobile device equipped with anti-eavesdropping and anti-voice recording software.
Kim is believed to have used the phone to communicate with Yoon during the process of invoking martial law.
The police tried to confiscate the phone when they searched Kim's office and official residence during a raid on Sunday, but were unable to secure it. (Yonhap)