Who is the "last warrior defending Yoon Suk-yeol"?

In a dramatic January 3 turn of events in Seoul, locals described the day's "president-ousting operation" as a "real-life TV drama" and "unprecedented presidential capture". The South Korean Special Prosecutor's Office for High-Ranking Public Officials, known as the SPP or Gochongbu, mobilized 30 investigators and 120 police officers to the presidential residence in the Hanan-dong district of Seoul's龙山区, only to be blocked by President Yoon Suk-yeol's own supporters and presidential guards (who are part of a military unit). After hours of tension and negotiations, the SPP announced it had been forced to postpone its mission and withdraw the arrest warrant. And now it's the leader of those presidential guards, Bok Jong-jun, is being targeted as a key figure in the crisis.

The world is now asking the question—Who is Bok Jong-jun?

Bok, 59, was born in a small town near Chungcheongnam-do in 1964 and is a true "all-around talent". In high school, he studied at Gyeongju High School, which is known as the "mecca of officials" as many graduates have since gone on to serve in South Korean public office, from former prime minister Kim Jong-bil to 81 other former or current ministerial-level officials and 60 generals.

Bok aspired to be a police officer. With outstanding academic performance, he achieved first place in his senior class exam at Gyeongju High. He became first honor student when graduating from the Korea National Police University and qualified as a national civil service officer the same year through the national entrance exam. He also attended New York State's Syracuse University, completing a Master of Public Affairs degree there.

Bok then worked as an officer and eventually climbed the ranks of the force to become the head of the Investigation Bureau in the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA), as well as the commissioner of the Chungcheongnam-do Provincial Police Agency and first deputy commissioner of the National Police Agency (NPA).

Unfortunately, the 39-year police veteran's dreams of elected office weren't as successful. He lost both of his attempts at representing the Gyeongju constituency in the national assembly from 2012 to 2016 and then 2016 to 2020.

Despite these electoral failures, Bok had served as an assistant director of the Blue House security staff under former South Korean President Park Geun-hye with the promise that security for her and her husband would "run without a problem", and the pledge he would "protect them until I die".

In fact, it was on Park's watch that Bok met another influential South Korean with strong ties to Yoon—retired general Roh Sang-bum, then-commander of Army intelligence headquarters. Both men shared a commitment to protecting Park.

While Roh was the man who masterminded the December emergency decree, Bok was the man Yoon assigned to protect himself. On June 30, 2022, after Yoon replaced retiring general Kim Long-hyun as chief of the presidential guards, Bok pledged, "the safety of the president in the presidential, unitary system of Korea is related to national security" and "will do everything I can and will do it right".

Indeed, he has kept his word: Bok stood resolutely by the door in Hanan-dong's presidential residence on January 3, blocking the SPP team from entering the building even when facing the threat of a criminal charge for obstructing public officials.

Bok justified his decision by using the Korean Presdiential Guard Act, arguing that the 55th Guard Group, as a military unit subordinate to the Presidential Guard Office, was under the exclusive command of that Office, with its director entitled to "appoint specific regions and install and manage the guard posts and guard lines" in any area "where it is deemed necessary according to the situation". Moreover, officials at the Office were permitted, it was pointed out, to carry out any activity aimed at "preventing harm," including keeping order, regulating traffic, conducting checks and searches, restricting the movement of people, and screening vehicles. In other words, Bok was within the law. He even said afterwards that, if Yoon had been arrested that day, he and his men would have taken full responsibility.

For his actions, Bok is now considered an enemy of the people. Yoon is not only facing an arrest warrant but also an urgent impeachment petition. Bok, by preventing law-enforcement officers from capturing Yoon last Thursday, has made himself a public enemy in the eyes of opposition parties' leaders. After last week's failed attempt, six opposition parties, led by the Democratic Party, announced at an emergency press conference that Bok should immediately be arrested on charges of obstruction of justice, harboring criminal(s), and abuse of power and removed from his position as chief of the presidential guard, so he can no longer "shield Yoon Suk-yeol and obstruct justice".

It has now been reported that the special joint investigating body has already decided to file charges of "impeding special public duty" against Bok and his deputy after being denied orders to attend questioning on January 4. The Presidential Security Office also released a statement the same day asserting that Bok and his deputy were "unable to attend police questioning because of the important times for presidential security".

Notably, this is Bok's third time to be summoned by the police in 73 days. On the first occasion, Bok was summoned for questioning at a police station in Seoul just 17 days after last December 3's emergency decree. Police suspected that he might have known of the plan to declare the country's first state of emergency in 67 years and the presidential orders, as he is the only official who accompanies the president at all times and has access to the president's private living quarters within Cheong Wa Dae.

Although Bok denied his prior knowledge, Police Commissioner Choi Jung-hoon admitted that he had received a secret phone call from Bok around 4 a.m. on December 3 asking him to meet the president at a safe room within Cheong Wa Dae. National Police Agency (NPA) Commissioner U Chi-ho testified that he had received a similar call from Bok around 10 a.m. that morning.

As the arrest warrant against Yoon will expire on January 6th local time, the SPP faces another conundrum – whether to pursue a second attempt and how to pursue it when Bok's men are willing to obstruct their task again, unless the SPP chooses to appeal to the court to obtain another arrest warrant before the current one expires. Experts said arresting Bok and his deputy could weaken the guard's capacity and boost the SPP's chances when they attempt to execute the warrant again. But others have pointed out that this is a crude solution, because arresting the chief of the presidential guard would require the president's successor, Acting President Choi Young-mu, to issue a special order to the SPP, so it could carry out its duties. However, that will only happen if Choi, who is the chairman of Yoon's People Power Party (PPP), chooses to do so, which could be unlikely given the fact that he was being pressed by both opposition and his own party after having two new justices to the Constitutional Court last week, which raised further prospects of getting Yoon impeached. The South Korean Constitution dictates that it takes six votes from eight justices to impeach Yoon.

Beijing-based social scientist Wang Jusheng, who is an expert on South Korea from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, explained to the Strait Times Daily that there are only two solutions currently and Choi might choose the safer one – letting the warrant expire: "He may take a safer way because he has been in power for so long that he has already become sensitive to the power dynamic among political parties, particularly to political risks. So, I don't think it is very likely, but I can't be 100 percent positive. Maybe the next one percent or two percent of the hope is still alive and that is why the Korean people are keeping following this drama."