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SEOUL, South Korea — That of South Korea previous Minister of Defense was prevented from attempting suicide during his captivity last week declaration of martial lawOfficials said Wednesday as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.

The main liberal opposition party, the Democratic Party, is pushing for a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades. It’s the first Impeachment attempt against Yoon failed last Saturday after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to introduce the new motion on Thursday in order to organize a vote on Saturday.

Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab did just that paralyzed South Korean politicsfroze his foreign policy and threw the financial markets into turmoil. On Wednesday, rival North Korean state media reported for the first time about the unrest across the border, but the country has shown no suspicious activity.

Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers that former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun tried to commit suicide the previous night at a detention center in Seoul. He said correctional officers restrained him and he was in stable condition.

Kim was arrested early Wednesday on charges of playing a key role in an uprising and committing abuse of power. He became the first person to be formally arrested under the martial law decree.

Kim, one of Yoon’s closest associates, is accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to prevent lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to force their way into a parliament chamber and unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the cabinet to withdraw it before dawn on December 4.

Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing great concern” to the public. He said all responsibility for imposing martial law lies with him and appealed for leniency for the soldiers deployed to enforce the law.

Prosecutors have 20 days to determine whether to charge Kim.

Yoon’s office blocks the search for the presidential complex

Also Wednesday, police arrested National Police Bureau Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police. They were accused of deploying police forces in parliament to prevent lawmakers from voting.

The main focus of the investigation is to determine whether Yoon and others involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion. A conviction for rebellion carries the maximum death penalty.

South Korean police said they sent officers on Wednesday to search Yoon’s office for evidence related to the imposition of martial law. But investigators were unable to enter the office on Wednesday evening, about six hours after their arrival, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told parliament.

Some observers previously said the presidential security service was unlikely to allow searches of Yoon’s office, citing a law that bans searches of sites containing state secrets without permission from those in charge of those areas.

Yoon apologized for the martial law decree on Saturday and said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”

The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange the president’s eventual departure, saying the party will coordinate state affairs with Cabinet members and Yoon will be sidelined.

The comments were criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional, and raised widespread questions about who is in charge of South Korea and its military at a time of heightened tensions with North Korea. The Justice Ministry banned Yoon from leaving the country on Tuesday because he was under investigation.

Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho reiterated on Wednesday that Yoon will remain in charge of the military. But Yoon has not been involved in any major official activities since the lifting of martial law.

A view from North Korea

An article by the North’s state news agency on Wednesday reported on the South Korean political chaos and protests caused by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mainly tried to explain events in South Korea, calling Yoon “a traitor” and his military “gangsters.”

Many experts say North Korea is susceptible to the domestic spread of news of major anti-government protests abroad because its own people do not have official access to international news and could be influenced by such events. The US State Department said Monday that the US-South Korea alliance remains “iron-clad” and that Washington is committed to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.

In his martial law announcement, conservative Yoon stressed the need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korean followers and anti-state forces,” a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has had near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which filed motions to oust some of its top officials and launched a political offensive following scandals involving Yoon and his wife.

Tong-Hyung and Kim write for the Associated Press.