South Korean authorities have banned more top officials from leaving the country, in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s bungled attempt to impose martial law.
Reports said a day after Yoon himself was hit with a travel ban, his party was forging a “resignation roadmap” that reportedly could see him step down in February or March before fresh elections.
Yoon suspended civilian rule a week ago and sent special forces and helicopters to parliament, before lawmakers forced him to rescind the decree in a country assumed to be a stable democracy.
It was learnt investigators are probing the president and a cabal of allies — many from the same school — for alleged insurrection over the sequence of extraordinary events.
According to sources, Commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency Cho Ji-ho, and two other top police officials became the latest to be banned from foreign travel.
Already confined to South Korean territory are the former defence and interior ministers, martial law commander General Park An-su and defence counterintelligence commander Yeo In-hyung.
Kim Yong-hyun, the former defence minister, was detained on Sunday and late Monday prosecutors filed a formal arrest warrant against him.
Charges included engaging in critical duties during an insurrection and “abuse of authority to obstruct the exercise of rights.
A Seoul court will hold a hearing later in the day to rule on whether to issue the warrant for Kim, the first court decision to be made related to the martial law chaos.
Kim issued contrite comments Tuesday saying that all responsibility for this situation lies solely with on him.
Kim apologised to the South Korean people and said that his subordinates were “merely following my orders and fulfilling their assigned duties”, in a statement made through his lawyers.