Yoon banned from leaving country

SEOUL, Dec 09 (AFP): South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol was banned from leaving the country on Monday, the justice ministry said, less than a week after he plunged the country into chaos by briefly imposing martial law.

Yoon sent special forces and helicopters to parliament on the night of December 3 before lawmakers forced him to rescind the order by rejecting his decree.

The hugely unpopular leader narrowly survived an impeachment motion in parliament on Saturday even as huge crowds braved freezing temperatures to call for his ouster.

However, despite remaining in office, a clutch of investigations has been closing in on Yoon and his close allies, including a probe for alleged insurrection.

The ministry of justice confirmed on Monday that Yoon had become the first sitting South Korean president to be banned from leaving the country.

A lawmaker was asked at a parliamentary hearing on Monday whether Yoon had been banned from leaving the country. "Yes, that's right," Bae Sang-up, an immigration services commissioner at the ministry, replied.

Also under travel bans for their roles in last week's events are former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun-currently in detention-and ex-interior minister Lee Sang-min.

General Park An-su, the officer in charge of the martial law operation, and defence counterintelligence commander Yeo In-hyung are also barred from leaving the country. Investigators hauled Park in for further questioning on Monday.

The impeachment push failed to pass after members of Yoon's own People Power Party (PPP) walked out of parliament, depriving it of the necessary two-thirds majority.

The PPP says that in exchange Yoon, 63, has agreed to hand power to the prime minister and party chief, prompting howls of protest from the opposition.

"This is an unlawful, unconstitutional act of a second insurrection and a second coup," Democratic Party floor leader Park Chan-dae said on Monday.

Under South Korea's constitution, the president remains head of government and commander in chief of the army unless he or she is incapacitated, resigns or steps down.

In such a case, power would then be handed to the prime minister on an interim basis until elections could be held.

Claiming that Yoon can remain in office but has delegated his powers to the prime minister and leader of his ruling PPP-who is not an elected official-is "a blatant constitutional violation with no legal basis", Park said.

"Their attitude of placing themselves above the constitution mirrors that of insurrectionist Yoon Suk Yeol," he said.

The defence ministry confirmed on Monday that the embattled Yoon remained at the head of the country's security apparatus, despite the apparent power vacuum in a country that remains technically at war with nuclear-armed North Korea.