South Korean prosecutors have indicted former president Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of aiding the enemy and abuse of power, accusing him of orchestrating drone flights over North Korea to justify declaring martial law and subverting civilian rule.
The indictment stems from a special investigation into Yoon’s actions in December last year, when he allegedly sought to provoke North Korea to create a pretext for emergency military rule.
State prosecutor Park Ji-young said Yoon and others “conspired to create conditions that would allow the declaration of emergency martial law, thereby increasing the risk of inter-Korean armed confrontation and harming public military interests.”
Evidence cited includes a memo from Yoon’s former counter-intelligence commander in October last year, which recommended targeting locations such as Pyongyang or Wonsan to provoke a North Korean response.
Political crisis and martial law attempt
Yoon’s actions plunged South Korea into a political crisis in December when he attempted to deploy armed soldiers to parliament to prevent lawmakers from voting down his martial law declaration. The effort failed, and Yoon was detained in a dawn raid in January, marking the first time a sitting South Korean president was taken into custody.
He was formally removed from office in April, with voters replacing him with Lee Jae Myung in June. Yoon currently faces ongoing trials for insurrection and related offenses tied to his martial law attempt.
North Korea claimed last year that South Korean drones dropped propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang, although Seoul’s military has not confirmed the reports. Tensions remain high as both nations are technically still at war, with the 1950–53 Korean War ending in an armistice rather than a peace treaty.
