SEOUL, The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Sunday demanded President Yoon Suk Yeol apologize after Presidential Security Service (PSS) agents forcefully carried an opposition lawmaker out of an event last week.
Rep. Kang Sung-hee of the minor progressive Jinbo Party was frog-marched by PSS agents out of an event held in the southwestern city of Jeonju on Thursday, after the presidential office described him as shouting and pulling on the president’s hand.
Kang has argued he was only asking Yoon to “change the principle of state affairs.” But a presidential official gave a different account, saying the lawmaker held onto the president’s hand despite warnings from security agents to let go.
On Sunday, the DP denounced the frog-marching as excessive and demanded Yoon’s apology.
“The security agents gagged Kang and lifted his limbs when the president was far away from Kang after shaking hands with him,” Rep. Park Ju-min, the DP’s chief deputy floor leader, said in a press conference as he showed rep
orters a video of the incident.
“It seems the Presidential Security Service was trying to protect (Yoon’s) mood rather than his safety. … This is a matter that should go as far as a dismissal of the chief of the PSS or Yoon’s apology,” he said.
The DP plans to jointly propose a resolution condemning the presidential office with other minor opposition parties, including Kang’s Jinbo Party, with the goal of adopting the resolution at a plenary parliamentary meeting scheduled for Thursday.
It also plans to submit a request to open a parliamentary steering committee meeting and summon officials from the presidential office for questions regarding the incident.
Source: Yonhap News Agency