SEOUL, South Korea. Dec 11, (AP): South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week's martial law, officials said, as police were trying to search President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office Wednesday in their intensifying investigation. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party also plans to submit a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec 3 declaration that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years.

Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed, with ruling party lawmakers boycotting a floor vote. Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets, greatly reducing his chances of completing his five-year term and casting a turbulent shadow over one of Asia’s most robust democracies. Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers Wednesday that Kim tried to kill himself the previous night at a detention center in Seoul.

He said that Kim's suicide attempt failed after center officials stopped him and that he is in a stable condition now. At the same parliament committee meeting, Justice Minister Park Sung Jae confirmed Kim’s failed suicide attempt. Kim was arrested early Wednesday after a Seoul court approved a warrant for him on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. Kim became the first person formally arrested over the Dec 3 martial law decree.

Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec 4.

Prosecutors have up to 20 days to determine whether to indict Kim. Later Wednesday, National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, head of the metropolitan police agency of the capital, Seoul, were detained over their actions during martial law, police said. They were accused of deploying police forces to the National Assembly to block lawmakers' voting together with troops. The country’s main law enforcement institutions are focusing on finding whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in imposing martial law committed the crime of rebellion.