SEOUL: South Korean authorities banned more top officials from leaving the country on Tuesday, in the wake of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s bungled attempt to impose martial law.

A day after Yoon himself was hit with a travel ban, his party was meanwhile forging a “resignation roadmap” that reportedly could see him step down in February or March before fresh elections, while the opposition plans to organise an impeachment vote every Saturday.

Yoon suspended civilian rule a week ago and sent special forces and helicopters to parliament, before lawmakers forced him to rescind the decree in a country assumed to be a stable democracy.

Investigators are probing the president and a cabal of allies — many from the same school — for alleged insurrection over the sequence of extraordinary events.

On Tuesday Cho Ji-ho, commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency, and two other top police officials became the latest to be barred from foreign travel, police said.

Already under a travel ban are the former defence and interior ministers and martial law commander General Park An-su, who along with other top brass was grilled by lawmakers on Tuesday.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2024