Impeached South Korean president's lawyers slam detention efforts as acting leader warns of clash

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Lawyers for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol denounced efforts to detain him over his short-lived imposition of martial law, while the country’s acting leader expressed concern Wednesday over a possible clash between law enforcement agents and presidential security personnel.

As anti-corruption officials and police prepared another attempt to detain Yoon following last week’s failed effort, the presidential security service fortified Yoon's compound with barbed wire and rows of tightly placed vehicles blocking the path to his residence.

The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials and police say they will make a more forceful effort to detain Yoon, warning that they could arrest members of the presidential security staff if they obstruct efforts to seize the embattled president.

The office, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military, has been seeking Yoon’s detention since he repeatedly ignored summons for questioning about whether his brief power grab on Dec. 3 constituted rebellion.

In a news conference, Yoon’s lawyers challenged the legitimacy of a new detention warrant issued Tuesday by the Seoul Western District Court, arguing that the anti-corruption agency lacks legal authority to investigate rebellion charges or order police to detain suspects.

Yoon Kap-keun, one of the lawyers, urged the anti-corruption agency to either indict the president or seek a formal arrest warrant — a process that would require a court hearing.

However, he said the president would only comply with an arrest warrant issued by the Seoul Central District Court, accusing the agency of deliberately choosing the Western District Court because of its allegedly favorable judge. He didn’t give a clear answer when asked whether the president would appear at the Central District Court for a hearing on an arrest warrant, saying security issues must be settled first.

“People are suffering in the severe cold and government officials must be experiencing significant internal conflict,” the lawyer said, referring to daily protests by both Yoon’s critics and supporters near his residence. “Please consider this as us taking a step back based on good will.”

The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which drove the legislative effort leading to the president's impeachment on Dec. 14, accused his lawyers of attempting to stall the process and urged the anti-corruption agency to swiftly execute the detainment warrant against him.

About 150 anti-corruption agency investigators and police officers attempted to detain Yoon at his residence on Friday but retreated after a tense standoff with the presidential security service that lasted more than five hours. The investigators have not yet made another attempt to detain him.

Police said they are considering “all available options” to bring Yoon into custody and haven’t publicly ruled out the possibility of deploying SWAT teams, although it’s unclear whether investigators would risk triggering a confrontation with presidential security forces, who are also armed.

In a government meeting on Wednesday, the country’s acting president, Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, urged authorities to ensure “there are no injuries to citizens or physical clashes between government agencies” in any attempt to detain Yoon.

In a parliamentary hearing on Tuesday, Oh Dong-woon, the anti-corruption agency's chief prosecutor, criticized Choi for instructing police to follow the presidential security service’s request to beef up security at Yoon’s residence ahead of Friday’s detention attempt. The police did not carry out Choi’s instruction, and Oh said the agency was reviewing whether Choi’s actions constituted an obstruction of official duties.

Hours after Yoon declared martial law and dispatched troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, lawmakers who managed to get past the blockade voted to lift the measure. Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14, accusing him of rebellion. The Constitutional Court has started deliberations on whether to formally remove Yoon from office or reinstate him.

Demonstrators supporting, left, and opposing impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol confront each other near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. The letters on right read "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters attend a rally demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. The letters read "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters attend a rally demanding the arrest of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. The letters read, "Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's residence is seen in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Security personnel walk on a road lined up with buses blocking the entrance gate of impeached South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol's residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shout slogans during a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday said he plans to tell the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide. Kennedy also said he’s assembling a task force to focus on the issue.

Also on Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is reviewing “new scientific information" on potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water. The EPA has primary authority to set the maximum level of fluoridation in public water systems.

Kennedy told The Associated Press of his plans after a news conference with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in Salt Lake City.

Kennedy can’t order communities to stop fluoridation, but he can tell the CDC to stop recommending it and work with the EPA to change the allowed amount.

Utah last month became the first state to ban fluoride in public drinking water, pushing past opposition from dentists and national health organizations who warned the move would lead to medical problems that disproportionately affect low-income communities.

Republican Gov. Spencer Cox signed legislation barring cities and communities from deciding whether to add the cavity-preventing mineral to their water systems. Water systems across the state must shut down their fluoridation systems by May 7.

Kennedy praised Utah for emerging as “the leader in making America healthy again.” He was flanked by Utah legislative leaders and the sponsor of the state’s fluoride law.

“I’m very, very proud of this state for being the first state to ban it, and I hope many more will,” he said.

Kennedy oversees the CDC, whose recommendations are widely followed but not mandatory. State and local governments decide whether to add fluoride to water and, if so, how much — as long as it doesn’t exceed a maximum set by the EPA, which is currently 4 milligrams per liter.

Zeldin said his agency was launching a renewed examination of scientific studies on the potential health risks of fluoride in drinking water to help inform any changes to the national standards.

“When this evaluation is completed, we will have an updated foundational scientific evaluation that will inform the agency’s future steps,” Zeldin said. “Secretary Kennedy has long been at the forefront of this issue. His advocacy was instrumental in our decision to review fluoride exposure risks, and we are committed to working alongside him, utilizing sound science as we advance our mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the CDC. In 1950, federal officials endorsed water fluoridation to prevent tooth decay, and in 1962 set guidelines for how much should be added to water.

Kennedy, a former environmental lawyer, has called fluoride a “dangerous neurotoxin” and said it has been associated with arthritis, bone breaks and thyroid disease. Some studies have suggested such links might exist, usually at higher-than-recommended fluoride levels, though some reviewers have questioned the quality of available evidence and said no definitive conclusions can be drawn.

In November, just days before the presidential election, Kennedy declared that Donald Trump would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day as president. That didn't happen, but Trump later picked Kennedy to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he has been expected to take some kind of action. Meanwhile, some localities have gone ahead and decisions whether to keep fluoridating water.

Related to all this: A massive round of staffing cuts last week across federal agencies included elimination of the CDC's 20-person Division of Oral Health. That office managed grants to local agencies to improve dental health and, in come cases, encourage fluoridation.

Fluoride can come from a number of sources, but drinking water is the main one for Americans, researchers say. Nearly two-thirds of the U.S. population gets fluoridated drinking water, according to CDC data. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water was long considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

About one-third of community water systems — 17,000 out of 51,000 across the U.S. — serving more than 60% of the population fluoridated their water, according to a 2022 CDC analysis. The agency currently recommends 0.7 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water.

But over time, studies have documented potential problems. Too much fluoride has been associated with streaking or spots on teeth. Studies also have traced a link between excess fluoride and brain development.

A report last year by the federal government’s National Toxicology Program, which summarized studies conducted in Canada, China, India, Iran, Pakistan and Mexico, concluded that drinking water with more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter — more than twice the recommended level in the U.S. — was associated with lower IQs in kids.

Utah Oral Health Coalition chairperson Lorna Koci said Monday that she hopes other states push back against the removal of fluoride and that Kennedy’s visit to celebrate her state's fluoride ban underscores the political motivations of those who support it.

She predicted children will have more cavities as a result and said backers of the fluoride legislation in Utah spread false information that raised doubts about its effectiveness. Opponents of the law warned it would disproportionately affect low-income residents who may rely on public drinking water containing fluoride as their only source of preventative dental care.

“This seems to be less about fluoride and more about power,” Koci said.

Stobbe reported from New York. Associated Press writer Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, contributed reporting,

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., right, arrives at University of Utah to discuss Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear in Salt Lake City with the EPA administrator and state lawmakers to talk about Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear in Salt Lake City with the EPA administrator and state lawmakers to talk about Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exits a bus as he visits University of Utah to discuss Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear in Salt Lake City with the EPA administrator and state lawmakers to talk about Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits University of Utah to discuss Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visits University of Utah to discuss Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to appear in Salt Lake City with the EPA administrator and state lawmakers to talk about Utah's new fluoride ban and food additives legislation, Monday, April 7, 2025, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)