A Seoul court dismissed the prosecution's request for pretrial detention warrants against two senior secret service officials on charges of obstructing the execution of President Yoon Suk Yeol's arrest warrant in January.

The Seoul Western District Court on Friday turned down the request against Presidential Security Service(PSS) Vice Chief Kim Sung-hoon and Lee Kwang-woo, head of the PSS' protection bureau, on charges of special obstruction of official duty and power abuse.
 
The court cited there being room for the suspects to dispute the charges, excessive restriction of their right to defense, lack of justification for concern over destruction of evidence, as well as flight risk.

Kim and Lee are suspected of obstructing the police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials'(CIO) attempt to execute Yoon's arrest warrant on January 3.

They are also accused of unfairly removing a senior secret service official from their post for allegedly not following orders to block the arrest attempt and ordering deletion of secret phone records.