South Korean ex-Defence Minister attempts suicide at detention facility

Seoul, Dec 11 (IANS) South Korean former Defence Minister Kim Yong-hyun attempted to take his own life while being held at a detention facility on charges of insurrection, but he is currently in stable condition, the justice ministry said on Wednesday.

Kim was found trying to hang himself with a rope made from tying together innerwear inside a bathroom at the Seoul Dongbu Detention Centre in eastern Seoul at 11:52 p.m. on Tuesday, shortly before a court issued a warrant to arrest him, Yonhap news agency reported quoting the ministry.

"There was an immediate dispatch to restrain him," the ministry said. "The medical team's treatment showed he was in stable condition with no abnormalities, and he is currently being held under normal conditions."

Kim was placed under formal arrest early Wednesday on charges of helping President Yoon Suk Yeol stage an insurrection through his short-lived imposition of martial law last week.

Prosecutors suspect the then-defence minister proposed the declaration of martial law to Yoon and ordered the deployment of troops to the National Assembly compound and the National Election Commission headquarters.

By law, those who participate in plotting an insurrection are punishable by death, life imprisonment or a prison term of at least five years.

Shin Yong-hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told a parliamentary legislation committee meeting that Kim is being held in a protective cell following the attempt on his own life.

Rep. Jung Chung-rai of the main opposition Democratic Party, who chairs the committee, suggested the former defence minister may have taken the extreme measure after feeling "wronged" that the prosecution was targeting him, not Yoon, over the alleged insurrection.

Justice Minister Park Sung-jae dismissed the notion

"I don't think so," he said during the meeting. "I don't have a basis for this, but someone who tried to commit suicide likely had various reasons, and there is no way for me to know."

Kim was brought in for further questioning by prosecutors at the detention centre later Wednesday.