THE top aide of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol pleaded with law enforcement officials today to abandon their efforts to detain him over last month’s martial law imposition, as authorities prepared a second attempt to take him into custody.

In his statement, presidential chief of staff Chung Jin Suk said that President Yoon could instead be questioned at a “third site” or at his residence and claimed that the anti-corruption agency and police were trying to drag him out like he was a member of a “South American drug cartel.”

However, Yoon Kab Keun, one of the president’s lawyers, said Mr Chung had issued the message without consulting them and that the legal team has no immediate plans to make the president available for questioning by investigators.

Mr Yoon has not left his official residence in Seoul for weeks, and the presidential security service prevented dozens of investigators from detaining the president after a lengthy stand-off on January 3.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police pledged more forceful measures to detain President Yoon while they jointly investigate whether his brief martial law declaration on December 3 amounted to an attempted rebellion. 

The anti-corruption agency and police haven’t confirmed when they would return to the presidential residence.