South Korea’s presidential office denies flight speculations on Yoon

The presidential office on Wednesday denied speculations that President Yoon Suk Yeol might have fled his residence amid investigators' attempt to detain him for a probe into his short-lived imposition of martial law, Yonhap reports.

"(I) have heard the president is currently staying at the official residence," a presidential official with knowledge of the matter told Yonhap News Agency by phone, without providing further details.

Police said they are tracking Yoon's location amid rumors he may have fled from his residence in central Seoul as investigators led by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) were mulling ways to arrest the impeached president.

Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the main opposition Democratic Party claimed in an interview with KBS radio Wednesday that he had information Yoon has already left the residence and is hiding in a "third location."

During a parliamentary session Tuesday, Oh Dong-woon, chief of the CIO, told lawmakers he had heard nothing specific about whether Yoon remained home.

Earlier it was reported that hundreds of people in support of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and those calling for his immediate arrest rallied near the presidential residence Wednesday, a day after a court extended a warrant to detain him over his botched martial law declaration.