Ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol charged with aiding enemy over alleged drone flights to North Korea to justify martial law declaration
SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors have indicted former president Yoon Suk Yeol on charges of aiding the enemy.
The indictment alleges Yoon ordered drone flights over North Korea to strengthen his effort to declare martial law.
North Korea claimed last year that South Korea flew drones to drop propaganda leaflets over Pyongyang.
Seoul’s military has not confirmed the drone operations.
State prosecutors investigated whether sending drones was an illegal attempt to provoke North Korea.
Prosecutors sought to determine if Yoon intended to use North Korea’s reaction as pretext for military rule.
Prosecutor Park Ji-young announced the special counsel team filed charges of “benefiting the enemy in general and of abuse of power” against the former president.
Yoon and others “conspired to create conditions that would allow the declaration of emergency martial law,” said Park.
She stated this action increased “the risk of inter-Korean armed confrontation and harming public military interests.”
Compelling evidence was found in a memo by Yoon’s former counter-intelligence commander from October last year.
The memo pushed to “create an unstable situation or seize an arising opportunity.”
It suggested targeting places “that must make them (the North) lose face so that a response is inevitable.”
Specific locations mentioned included Pyongyang and the coastal city of Wonsan.
Seoul and Pyongyang remain technically at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice.
Yoon plunged South Korea into political crisis in December last year by attempting to subvert civilian rule.
He sent armed soldiers to parliament to stop lawmakers voting down his martial law declaration.
The effort failed, and Yoon was detained in a dawn raid in January.
He became South Korea’s first sitting president to be taken into custody.
Yoon was removed from office in April following a general election.
Voters replaced him with Lee Jae Myung in June’s election.
Yoon remains on trial for insurrection and other offences linked to his martial law declaration. – AFP
