South Korea’s ousted president, Yoon Suk Yeol, is dealing with extra prison fees amid allegations he ordered drone flights over North Korea.
Prosecutors allege the transfer was a deliberate bid to stoke tensions with North Korea and justify Mr Yoon’s plans to declare martial regulation.
Senior investigators mentioned Mr Yoon had elevated the “danger of a South-North armed conflict” as a part of makes an attempt to create an “environment” to justify imposing army regulation on civilians.
The previous conservative president plunged South Korea right into a constitutional disaster when he imposed martial regulation on 3 December 2024.
Troopers surrounded the Nationwide Meeting and clashed with protesters within the capital Seoul in scenes which shocked the world.
Mr Yoon was later impeached and faraway from workplace and is in jail, standing trial on fees, together with masterminding a insurrection.
Mr Yoon has mentioned persistently he by no means supposed to impose army rule however declared martial regulation to sound the alarm about wrongdoing by opposition events and to guard democracy from “antistate” components.
On Monday, Mr Yoon and two of his high defence officers had been charged with benefiting the enemy and committing abuse of energy over their alleged drone flights.
The 2 different indicted officers are Yeo In-hyung, the previous commander of the army’s counterintelligence company, and ex-defence minister Kim Yong Hyun.
A particular investigation crew mentioned the obvious drone flights happened two months earlier than Mr Yoon’s declaration of martial regulation.
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December 2024: ‘I declared martial regulation to guard the nation’
Martial regulation suspends all present legal guidelines – that means there generally is a suspension of regular civil rights and army regulation could be enforced on the civilian inhabitants.
North Korea had accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital, Pyongyang, to drop propaganda leaflets 3 times in October 2024.
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Mr Yoon arrives on the prosecutor’s workplace in Seoul for questioning earlier this yr. Pic: Reuters
Tensions rose sharply on the time and North Korea threatened to reply with drive.
On Monday, senior investigator Park Ji-young mentioned Mr Yoon and the 2 different officers had “undermined the military interests” of the nation and elevated the “danger of a South-North armed conflict”.
She mentioned the aim was to create an “environment for declaring emergency martial law”.
Ms Park revealed memos had been present in Mr Yeo’s cell phone, a few of which she alleged recommended seemingly plots to set off tensions with North Korea.
Wordings included “creating an unstable situation”, “drones” and “targets like Pyongyang” that would drive North Korea to reply due to “a loss of its face”, she added.
Ms Park mentioned she won’t give any additional clarification on the memos as a consequence of considerations about leaks of army secrets and techniques.
There was no quick response from Mr Yoon, Mr Kim or Mr Yeo. Nevertheless, Mr Yoon’s defence crew mentioned in July that he maintained he was not knowledgeable of the drone flights.
