Member of Presidential Security Service leaks confidential information

Member of Presidential Security Service leaks confidential information. January. 14, 2025 08:02. by Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com.
A whistleblower from the Presidential Security Service has alleged that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ordered the use of force by the security service ahead of executing a second arrest warrant. President Yoon’s side denied the claim as false, but the security service announced on the same day that a senior officer accused of leaking internal secrets to the National Office of Investigation was placed on standby. This rare disclosure of internal whistleblowing and confidentiality breaches has led to concerns about internal divisions within the security service, particularly against hardline leaders, including Kim Sung-hoon, the deputy chief and acting chief of the Presidential Security Service.

Rep. Yun Kun-young of the Democratic Party of Korea, who serves as the opposition secretary on the National Assembly’s Public Administration and Security Committee, held a press conference on Monday. He claimed that during a luncheon with six senior officials from the security service the previous day, President Yoon instructed them to carry knives, even if not guns, if necessary, to stop any police officers approaching to arrest him. Yun said he obtained this information through a tip from a security service officer.

The security service responded with a statement regarding another whistleblower allegation that Deputy Chief Kim placed a senior officer on standby for opposing the directive to use force during a meeting. The statement confirmed that the officer in question was found to have shared internal information, including the locations of key military installations, with a National Office of Investigation investigator. This implicitly acknowledged the officer's cooperation with police preparing to execute the arrest warrant while trying to deny the use of force directive.

It is highly unusual for a senior officer of the presidential security service, where security is of the utmost importance, to report the remarks by the president who is under the security service’s protection to an opposition lawmaker or to disclose details about internal facilities to the police ahead of an arrest warrant’s execution. “Some staff caught between their duty of protecting the president and the legitimacy of resisting an arrest warrant, found the president’s directive to use weapons unacceptable, which has led to these exceptional whistleblowing events,” an individual familiar with the inner workings of the security service noted.