Police will begin providing prime minister-level security services to the presidential candidates of the ruling and main opposition parties this week, officials at the National Police Agency (NPA) said Wednesday.

Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Party, and Yoon Seok-youl, the presidential nominee of the main opposition People Power Party, will receive the same level of police protection as the prime minister, the National Assembly speaker and the Supreme Court chief justice under the current police rules, the officials said.Details of police security services for the two presidential front-runners will be finalized this week, they said.

A security detail of about 10 officers has already been assigned to Lee and a bodyguard team of the same size will be formed this week to accompany Yoon on his external schedules and respond to risk factors, they said.

The presidential election is scheduled for March 9.

Police plan to assign an additional security team of about 20 bodyguards each to the leading presidential contenders after they finish their candidacy registrations with the National Election Commission in February.

The NPA also plans to offer certain security protection for presidential candidates of minor political parties. The NPA earlier selected a pool of 150 bodyguards for presidential candidates from among police officers fully vaccinated against COVID-19. (Yonhap)