South Korea president’s office block prosecutors’ searches
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SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of — South Korean officials Friday turned away prosecutors trying to search the president’s mountainside compound, a confrontation that highlights the tensions of an investigation into a scandal that knocked President Park Geun-hye from power.
Prosecutors want to question Park and search her presidential Blue House for more information about events that led to her impeachment in December. Park has said she’s willing to be questioned. But her office opposes any search and maintains that a law blocks searches in areas with military and other official secrets.
On Friday, a team of prosecutors and investigators attempted to enter the Blue House in downtown Seoul after receiving a court-issued search warrant. But the Blue House didn’t let them in, saying it can only hand over documents to prosecutors, not give them entrance. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the president’s office produced the documents or whether ignoring the court’s search warrant was legal.
South Korean television stations showed what they called members of the special prosecutors’ team waiting inside cars at a parking lot within the Blue House compound.
