SEOUL (Reuters) – Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol moved back on Friday with his wife and their 11 dogs and cats to their apartment in an upscale district of Seoul, close to the prosecutors’ office where the impeached leader worked before entering politics.
Yoon and his wife Kim Keon Hee, known for their love of pets, are beginning a new life after he was impeached for a failed attempt to impose martial law and removed from office.
Under Yoon, South Korea passed a bill to ban the eating and selling of dog meat in the country. The number of pets they own grew from four dogs and three cats at the start of his presidency, and now include a retriever that is a retired service dog adopted by Yoon in 2022.
The couple’s 164 sq metre apartment is located in a complex in the glitzy “Gangnam” area south of the Han river, and some neighbours have raised concerns about the return of a man who so polarised the nation during his stint in office.
As many as 50 presidential security service personnel will be deployed to guard the couple, who are entitled to protection for at least five years, according to South Korean media reports.
The three 37-storey towers that make up the Acrovista complex are home to more than 750 households. Previously, South Korean presidents have moved into detached houses after leaving office, which have afforded much greater privacy.
The security arrangement in the crowded residential property where they will now live is believed to have been one of the reasons that delayed their move back to the private home by a week after he was stripped of the presidency.
Some neighbours have also fretted about their complex becoming a magnet for crowds of supporters and critics the couple might attract, local media reported, though others posted a welcome banner at the building entrance.
Yoon said he had to declare martial law to raise the alarm about his opponents’ unrelenting obstruction of political process that paralysed government.
The Acrovista complex is built on the site of the country’s worst human-caused disaster – the collapse of a major department store in 1995 that killed 502 people and injured nearly 1,000 others.
(Reporting by Jack Kim, Ju-min Park; Editing by Ed Davies and Gareth Jones)
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