South Korea police raid President Yoon’ office over failed martial law

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.

A presidential security service official confirmed to Reuters that police raided Yoon’s office. The national police agency declined to immediately confirm the search. Yonhap news agency said police investigators presented a search warrant that specified Yoon as the subject.

The raid marks a dramatic escalation of the probe against Yoon and top police and military officers for the surprise Dec. 3 martial law declaration that plunged Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a major U.S. ally into a constitutional crisis.

Yoon was not at the presidential office compound during the raid, Yonhap said. His official residence is at a separate location. He has not been seen in public since apologising on Saturday for trying to impose martial law.

Kim, the former defence minister, was found by guards as he attempted suicide inside a detention centre using his underwear, the justice ministry’s chief of correction services, Shin Yong-hae, told parliament’s justice committee.