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A member of President Joe Biden's advance security team has been arrested in the South Korean capital Seoul and is accused of committing a drunken assault against a South Korean citizen.
The alleged incident occurred outside the the Grand Hyatt hotel, where the president is expected to stay during his visit to the country, according to Reuters.
The arrested individual works for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and was arrested after getting into a fight over a taxi, according to a Yongsan district police official on Friday.
Police have not provided other details of the incident or the arrested person, who has not yet been named.
A South Korean broadcaster, TV Chosun, was apparently the first news outlet to report on the incident. They reported that a man in his 30s was arrested after another guest at the Grand Hyatt Hotel called the police. That news report did not name either the DHS employee or the alleged victim.
Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the United States Secret Service issued a statement to Newsweek on Friday.
"The Secret Service is aware of an off-duty incident involving two employees which may constitute potential policy violations. The individuals will be immediately returned back to their post of duty and placed on administrative leave. There was no impact to the upcoming trip," Guglielmi said.
"We have very strict protocols and policies for all employees and we hold ourselves to the highest professional standards. Given this is an active administrative personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further," the statement added.
Biden arrived in Seoul on Friday for his first visit to South Korea as president. It is also his first trip to Asia since assuming office in January last year.
The president will spend six days on the continent, beginning in the South Korean capital and finishing up in the Japanese capital city of Tokyo. He's due to meet the leaders of several countries, with China and North Korea likely to top the agenda for discussions.
There are also concerns about possible North Korean missile tests amid the decades-long tensions between the countries.
Biden will meet the newly-inaugurated South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was elected on a platform of strengthening the country's military alliance with the U.S. and also forging better relations with Japan.
Though both countries are important U.S. allies they have a long history of conflict between them and significant controversy remains over Japan's World War II occupation of the peninsula.
"So much of the future of the world is going to be written here, in the Indo-Pacific, in the next several decades," Biden said at a Samsung plant in South Korea on Friday
"We're standing at an inflection point in history, where the decisions we make today will have far-reaching impact on the world we're leaving to our children tomorrow."
The president also took aim at Russian President Vladimir Putin and the ongoing invasion of Ukraine and highlighted the importance of supply chains. The plant he visited produces semiconductors that are crucial in many technologies
"Putin's brutal and unprovoked war in Ukraine has further spotlighted the need to secure our critical supply chains so that our economy, our economic and our national security are not dependent on countries that don't share our values," Biden said.
Update 05/20/22, 8.40 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include more information and a new picture.
Update 05/20/22, 9:15 a.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from the Secret Service.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more