Seoul – One of President Biden’s security officers has been arrested and charged with assaulting a South Korean citizen in Seoul a day before Biden arrived in the country, according to South Korean police.
A Seoul police official said Friday that the person was arrested early Thursday morning. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the incident, declined to comment further.
South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo newspaper, which first reported the case on Friday, said the suspect was drunk and got into a fight with a South Korean over a taxi near the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Seoul, where Biden’s team is staying. The newspaper said the individual works for the US Department of Homeland Security and is in his thirties.
The Department of Homeland Security oversees the Secret Service, whose agents operate In the past Engaged in disorderly conduct while disclosing his details abroad. The White House referred questions to the Secret Service, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Biden arrived on Friday for the first visit to Asia during his presidency, at the start of a five-day tour aimed at underlining his administration’s diplomatic and economic commitment to the region in the face of a rising China.
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