A South Korean special prosecutor on November 10 indicted former President Yoon Seok Yeol on additional charges of abuse of power and aiding an enemy state, related to the imposition of martial law last year.
Reuters writes about this.
Prosecutors say Yoon Seok Yeol, along with former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyeon and former military intelligence chief Yoo In Hyeon, planned to provoke a North Korean attack on South Korea in order to declare martial law.
This is supported by evidence found on Yo In Hyunʼs mobile phone, which included words hinting at possible provocations against North Korea — talk of using drones and conducting a "surgical strike".
Last October, North Korea said the South had sent drones to scatter anti-North Korean leaflets over Pyongyang, and released photos of the wreckage of a downed South Korean military drone.
A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said on Monday that the agency had no comment on the matter.
Yoo In Hyun, according to media reports, said he deeply regretted not disobeying Yoonʼs order. A spokeswoman for the prosecution said Yoo was justifying himself with "nonsense explanations" regarding the recordings found on his phone.
Martial law in South Korea
On the night of December 3-4, 2024, then-President of South Korea Yoon Seok Yeol declared martial law in the country to “protect the constitutional order” — the first time since the 1980s. The reason was that the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, rejected the government’s budget proposal and decided to impeach the state auditor and the attorney general. In total, martial law lasted about six hours, but caused an acute internal crisis.
On January 15, 2025, Yoon Seok Yeol was detained. He is currently in a pre-trial detention center. On August 1, the ex-president disrupted the interrogation — he lay down on the floor in his underwear and refused to leave the cell.
South Koreaʼs Constitutional Court removed Yoon Seok-yeol from office in a unanimous verdict on April 4.
Former South Korean first lady Kim Geun Hee was arrested on August 13 on charges of involvement in a stock manipulation scheme, election interference, and bribery. She and former President Yoon Seok Yeol became the first former presidential spouses to be detained at the same time.
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