Seoul: South Korean police raided the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol, a presidential security official said on Wednesday, in a widening investigation into the embattled leader’s failed attempt to impose martial law.

Separately, Kim Yong Hyun, former defence minister and a close confidant of Yoon, attempted suicide at a detention centre where he is held after being arrested, a Justice Ministry official told a parliament hearing.

The main liberal opposition Democratic Party also plans to submit a new motion to impeach Yoon for his December 3 declaration that imposed martial law.

Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralysed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets, greatly reducing his chances of completing his five-year term and casting a turbulent shadow over one of Asia’s most robust democracies.

Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Kim tried to kill himself at a detention centre in Seoul. He said Kim’s suicide attempt failed after centre officials stopped him and that he was now in a stable condition.

Kim was arrested earlier on Wednesday after a Seoul court approved a warrant for him on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. Kim became the first person formally arrested over the December 3 martial law decree.

National Police Agency commissioner-general Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong Sik, head of the metropolitan police agency of the capital, Seoul, were detained over their actions during martial law. They are being investigated for their roles in deploying police forces to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting to lift Yoon’s martial law decree.

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