The national police commissioner and the Seoul police chief have been arrested for their alleged involvement in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law move last week.
The special police task force looking into Yoon’s martial law declaration said Wednesday that Cho Ji-ho, the commissioner of the Korean National Police Agency, and Kim Bong-sik, the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, were arrested without warrants around 3:50 a.m. on insurrection charges.
In a rare case of police officers targeting their own leadership, the emergency arrests came about ten hours after Cho and Kim were questioned at their respective headquarters on Tuesday.
Cho and Kim are accused of instructing police officers to cordon off the National Assembly compound to block lawmakers from entering parliament after Yoon declared martial law.
The special investigation team also imposed travel bans on the top police officials and is analyzing their mobile phones.